Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Istanbul that AtkinsRéalis‘s bid to supply the Candu reactor to two Turkish power plants has a “good chance” of success. A year ago, he acknowledged, the odds would have been considered very low.
The announcement comes a day after Canada and Turkey upgraded their relations to a “strategic partnership” during the first bilateral visit by a Canadian prime minister to Ankara and the surrounding region. Energy is one of the pillars of the agreement. Carney spoke with Turkish business leaders at a meeting in Istanbul and explained that negotiations are intensifying. The Turkish government is expected to decide by the end of the year, roughly coinciding with COP 31.
On the table is the country’s third nuclear plant, which would join the programme already under way. The first plant, Akkuyu, is being built by Rosatom in Mersin province under a $20 billion agreement signed in 2010. The Russian group said last week that it expects start-up by the end of the year. For the third site, Ankara has held talks with South Korea, Russia, China and Japan. “There is real competition,” Carney acknowledged.
According to the prime minister, the Canadian proposal rests on Candu technology, partnerships with Turkish companies, including in construction, and the possibility of manufacturing parts of the supply chain locally. AtkinsRéalis is conducting a feasibility study for building Candu reactors at Sinop, a Black Sea city identified as the site of a new plant. The company’s chief executive thanked Carney and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson, who was part of the delegation, for their support.
The Turkish file is part of a broader Canadian strategy. Ottawa’s plan aims to sell more Candu reactors worldwide, with the goal of entering at least four new international markets by 2040 and engaging six to ten nuclear newcomer countries over a fifteen-year horizon. Canada is also seeking trading partners outside the United States as tariff tensions with Washington continue. Carney stressed that contracts are concluded between companies and that the government’s role is to present a Canadian market more open to foreign investors.
If Ankara chooses Candu by December, Canada would land the first European-Asian customer for this product line after years of stalled sales, and Sinop would become the showcase for the export plan targeting 2040.
