Nuclear power

Bulgaria and the United States on Saturday welcomed progress of the five high-level working groups launched last yearto deepen and strengthen the strategic partnership of the two countries in five key areas.

The Black Sea region has not been able to recover from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster trauma that occurred 30 years ago. I was visiting the Black Sea provinces of Trabzon and Rize on the 30th anniversary of the disaster last week.

Energy Minister Berat Albayrak has said environmentalist groups should protest an old nuclear power plant in Armenia if they really want to protest nuclear energy, in response to activist groups and scientists who have opposed Turkey's efforts to build a nuclear plant at Akkuyu in the Mersin province. 

Turkish construction firm Cengiz is in talks about buying up to 49 percent of the $20 billion Akkuyu nuclear power plant being built by Russia's Rosatom, a source familiar with the matter said on April 27.

Turkey has pitched in efforts with other 43 countries to clean up the remnants of the Chernobyl disaster, exactly 30 years after the world's worst nuclear accident killed thousands.

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an has said Turkey needs to use its coal and water resources more effectively as the country is unlikely to meet its rising energy demand through just renewable resources. 

The Turkish government is currently working on a coal law that will enhance labor safety, accelerate projects increasing the use of local coal reserves and attract more investment to the sector, said Energy Minister Berat Albayrak. 

A unit of Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Bulgaria has been switched off to undergo repair, plant officials have said.

The repair is scheduled to go on until mid-May. Unit 5 will then be loaded with new nuclear fuel.

Currently, Unit 6 is working at full capacity under all safety arrangements.

A security officer at a Belgian nuclear power plant has been found murdered with his work pass stolen - a disturbing development in the light of recent terror attacks in Brussels, Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure (DH) reported on Saturday.

New information brought to light on Saturday revealing that ISIS fighters had been planning to hit nuclear plants in Belgium.

As newspaper Derniere Heure reveals the guard of nuclear plants in Charleroi was found dead, while his facilities access card was missing raising great concerns.