ANKARA, June 28. /TASS/. The first unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power station is to be commissioned within a year, Anadolu agency quoted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying after a June 27 meeting of the Russian-Turkish commission on trade and economic cooperation.

"I think the first unit of the station will be put into operation soon, within a year. We attach special importance to the implementation of this project. For us, this is a key cooperation project in the area of nuclear energy and peaceful atom," the agency quotes Novak.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the test production of electricity at the first power unit of Akkuyu is scheduled for the end of this year.

Novak also said the construction of Akkuyu is proceeding under the schedule.

"Economic feasibility of building another plant is being studied. This work is being carried out in the interests of the Turkish side as part of a search for mutually acceptable economic models. Russia will be very happy to participate in the implementation of this project," he added.

The Akkuyu nuclear power plant is being built by Rosatom. The project consists of four power units with Russian-designed VVER generation "3+" reactors. The capacity of each power unit will stand at 1,200 MW.

The Russian deputy prime minister also said that Russia has sent significant volumes of oil, petroleum products and coal to Turkey, and that "Turkey is a transit country for supplies to southeastern Europe.

"We are successfully cooperating. We are currently implementing large-scale joint projects. They include the Turkish Stream, which has two lines - one for supplies to the domestic market and one for the European route. We look forward to continuing our long-term cooperation in the field of natural gas supplies and are ready to expand it," Novak said.