'Putin may attend nuclear power plant inauguration in Turkey'

ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may travel to Turkey on April 27 to attend the inauguration ceremony of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

Erdogan told news channel ATV-A Haber in an interview that Putin may either travel to Mersin in person or attend the ceremony via teleconference, Xinhua news agency reported.

The project, located in the southeastern Turkish province of Mersin, is Turkey's first nuclear plant. It is expected to produce 35 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually and will meet about 10 per cent of domestic electricity needs.

It is the world's first nuclear power plant project implemented through a build-own-operate model. Under a contract, Russia's Rosatom firm has agreed to provide the power plant's design, construction, maintenance, operation and decommissioning.