ANKARA, February 15. /TASS/. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has reaiterated plans to commission the first unit of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant this year.

"Our objective is to begin generating electricity at the Akkuyu first unit this year and gradually put in operation other units. With all the four units commissioned, this source will account for 10% of our electricity demands," the TRT television channel quoted him as saying. "The construction of the Akkuyu first unit is 99% completed."

Touching on the plans for the construction of two more nuclear plants in Thrace and Sinop, Bayraktar noted that "Turkey will become a country possessing significant nuclear capacities" after these projects are implemented.

Akkuyu NPP is the first nuclear power plant being built in Turkey. The Akkuyu NPP project includes four power units equipped with Generation 3+ VVER reactors of the Russian design. The capacity of each power unit will be 1,200 MW. Akkuyu NPP is the first project in the global nuclear industry being implemented according to the Build-Own-Operate model.