ANKARA, December 9. /TASS/. The implementation of Turkey’s Akkuyu NPP project is continuing and the construction has not been halted, deputy director general of the Akkuyu Nuclear company, Oleg Titov, told TASS on Wednesday.

"Nothing has been stopped. The works at the site are underway as scheduled. The talks continue on implementing the project," Titov said. "Moreover, today we held a major meeting at Turkey’s Energy Ministry. No one told us about the halt also," he said.

Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday citing sources in the ministry that Russia has halted works on building the NPP in southern Turkey. Ankara has already started searching for new potential contractors, the report said.

Moscow and Ankara signed a deal to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in 2010. The agreement envisages the power plant construction in the southern coast of Turkey in the Mersin province.

The NPP will have four power units with the total capacity of 4,800 MW, and its service life is expected to be 60 years. The project will meet some 17% of Turkey’s demands for electricity.

Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom owns the project of Turkey’s first NPP. The project is worth $22 billion, and Russia has already invested around $3 billion in the construction.