Signatures on engineer assessment of Turkey's first nuclear plant forged: Report

The signatures of two nuclear engineers who prepared the environmental impact assessment report (ÇED) for Turkey?s prospective nuclear plant in Akkuyu were forged, ahead of the final approval of the mandatory document to allow the facility?s construction, daily BirGün reported Jan. 12.

The plant is scheduled to be built in the southeastern Mediterranean district of Akkuyu.

According to the report, an expert analysis carried out upon the demand of the Chamber of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), which closely monitors legal procedures, has revealed that signatures were forged twice at different stages of the process.

The plant

The first case of forgery dates back to 2013, after a ÇED prepared by the company Dokay Engineering and submitted on July 4 was rejected by the Environment Ministry for shortcomings on July 15. Volkan Erda?, a nuclear engineer who worked on the report, quit the company on July 31, but his signature figured in the amended document submitted to the ministry on Aug. 23.

After the report was returned by the court, the company worked on a new one, which it submitted on March 31, 2014, with the signature of Kuday Karaaslan, who took over the post. Despite Karaaslan having officially left the company on March 19, his signature still figured on the final environmental assessment report dating Sept. 24. This report was approved by the Environment Ministry on Dec. 1.

The ministry was under massive pressure from the plant?s Russian builder Rosatom to approve the report after the legal process regarding the environmental report dragged on for nearly four years, with time running out for the scheduled date for the start of construction, mid-2015. The ministry?s approval, which came a day ahead...