MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. Turkish companies Kolin and Kalyon (members of the consortium Cengiz-Kolin-Kalyon, CKK) suspended negotiations on entering the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (the first nuclear power plant in Turkey), Roman Dyukarev, communications director at Rusatom Energo International, told TASS.

Rusatom Energo International manages Rosatom's foreign projects for the construction and operation of nuclear power plants.

Rosatom is in talks with other potential investors, including the Turkish state energy company Euas, Dyukarev added.

"During the detailed elaboration of the terms of the agreement, Kolin Insaat and Kalyon Insaat did not continue their participation in the negotiations.

"One of the companies Rosatom is now discussing participation in the project with is Euas."

In summer of 2017, Rosatom secured a deal on selling 49% of the company, which operates the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant to the Cengiz-Kolin-Kalyon consortium. The amount of the transaction was not reported.

It was planned that the document on participation of these companies in the project would be signed before the end of 2017. But head of Rosatom Alexei Likhachev said that the state corporation is negotiating with other potential investors.

The negotiations with Cengiz on entering the NPP construction project in Turkey continue, Dyukarev noted.

"Cengiz participates in the project as a contractor for a number of construction works, negotiations with the company on other partnership opportunities in the framework of the project are continuing," he said.

According to Dyukarev, Rosatom is interested in Euas’ participation in the project.

"This company has expertise in implementing nuclear projects, participating in the Sinop nuclear power plant project, and we will be happy if, as a result of the negotiations, Euas joins the investors and shareholders of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project," he added.

"We expect investors to join the project during 2018. Now, at the licensing stage, the moment for investors to enter is very good. This year we expect to receive a basic construction license that will enable us immediately to start the construction of a nuclear island. Later on, the cost of joining the project for new shareholders will only increase,"Dyukarev stressed.

In 2010, Russia and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in construction and operation of Turkey's first NPP - Akkuyu. The project, estimated at $20 bln envisages construction of four power units with VVER-1200 reactors with a total capacity of 4800 MW. Russian nuclear agency Rosatom expects to launch the first block of the Akkuyu NPP in 2023.