Newsletters
Türkiye is drafting a framework law on small modular reactors, or SMRs, and the draft is ready, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Saturday.
Bayraktar said the world is moving toward SMRs in nuclear energy, but the field has important licensing and nuclear safety dimensions.
“Our nuclear regulatory authority is carrying out its own work, and there are also regulatory authorities with which we cooperate internationally,” Bayraktar said.
“We are currently preparing a small modular reactor law, a framework law; the draft is ready. It probably will not be before the budget, but after the budget, we aim to bring it to the agenda of our Parliament during this legislative year,” he added.
Bayraktar said the legal infrastructure for SMRs would be established strongly once the draft becomes law.
“We will create a framework that will ensure development on this issue, provide its financing and set out the measures to be taken regarding safety,” he said.
Bayraktar made the remarks during Teknofest Southeast, where he met young people and discussed Türkiye’s work and goals in the nuclear field, particularly SMRs.
The Aviation, Space and Technology Festival, organized under the leadership of the Industry and Technology Ministry and the T3 Foundation, is continuing at Sanliurfa GAP Airport.
Bayraktar met students participating in energy competitions as part of the festival.
“The nuclear energy technologies competition within the scope of Teknofest is very important for us,” he said. “This year was the third edition, and the number of teams is increasing every year. In very different fields and therefore in different categories, 192 teams competed.”
Bayraktar said the competitions reflected Türkiye’s innovative spirit and its ambition to be part of the SMR sector from the beginning.
“We want Türkiye not to miss the age of the SMR revolution and to become a country that has this technology from the beginning, produces it and exports it in the future,” he said.
“Let us establish the small modular reactors in the 20,000-megawatt target with our own technologies and our own people,” he added.
Bayraktar said nuclear energy offers major opportunities and that Türkiye is working to train human resources in the field by sending students to Russia, China and the United States.
He said the Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mineral Research Agency, or TENMAK, affiliated with the ministry, also announced a scholarship program this year.
“We assign a mentor to our students, and we appoint teammates who will guide them, take care of them and, in a sense, direct both their academic lives and their future professional lives,” he said.
Bayraktar said Teknofest also offered an important opportunity to develop human resources.
“There is great motivation, tremendous energy. Therefore, it is a very beautiful atmosphere,” he said. “Seeing children working on nuclear is also very exciting.”
He said Türkiye would need thousands, and even tens of thousands, of highly trained people in the nuclear field.
“The most important thing in this field is nuclear safety,” Bayraktar said. “We are on the path to becoming a country that produces its own nuclear power plant and technology and also operates it.”
Bayraktar said another step in the nuclear field would be the reactivation, after nearly 20 years, of the Cekmece Nuclear Research and Training Center, known as CNAEM, on the shore of Kucukcekmece Lake in Istanbul.
He said major work would be carried out at the center, emphasizing that the nuclear field was not limited to energy production.
“Our Nuclear Regulatory Authority has granted our permits, and that place will now conduct scientific research, material technologies, nuclear medicine, isotope production in all fields,” he said.
Bayraktar said applications in agriculture and material science would also accelerate, helping Türkiye reduce foreign dependence in the field.
Bayraktar also said Türkiye is working on a 2040 energy vision as it prepares for the COP31 meeting in Antalya.
He said it was not possible to discuss artificial intelligence without energy, stressing the need for uninterrupted power supply.
“In this sense, considering the COP31 meeting in Antalya, we declared 2026 as the year of preparation for this,” Bayraktar said. “We are working on the 2040 energy vision. In the next few weeks, we will announce this to Türkiye and the world public.”
He said the ultimate goal of the new energy vision was to make Türkiye independent in energy.
“In addition, nuclear is an indispensable field for us,” Bayraktar said. “Türkiye absolutely needs to have nuclear energy. We absolutely need to enter this age of artificial intelligence, this digital world, together with nuclear.”
Bayraktar said Türkiye would turn a 70-year dream into reality by starting electricity generation at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant within a few months.
“Now the second age of nuclear is beginning,” he said. “You will, in a sense, be at the very beginning of that age.”
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
1 min read
1 min read
