Turkish nuclear plant deal with Russia to be considered by parliament

A Russian-Turkish deal on the construction of Turkey's first nuclear
power plant has been submitted to the Turkish parliament, RIA Novosti
reports, citing national media.

The agreement to build the plant near the Mediterranean port of Mersin
was signed during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Turkey
in May. The plant is expected to start work in 2016-2019.

Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's state-run nuclear corporation
Rosatom, part of a Russian-Turkish consortium for the plant's
construction, earlier said Russia would maintain a controlling stake
in the $18-20-billion project to be implemented by Atomstroyexport,
Rosatom's export arm.

He also said the project would also include the creation of a nuclear
engineering company which will initially be owned by Russia.

The power plant will operate under IAEA guarantees, and the spent
nuclear fuel supplied to the plant by Russia will be repatriated.