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🇹🇷 Turkey /Energy & Infrastructure

Turkey and Denmark join forces on thorium as TENMAK signs deal with Copenhagen Atomics

From Sabah · () Turkish

Translated from Turkish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement New plan
  • TENMAK and Copenhagen Atomics signed a memorandum of understanding to develop research capacity in innovative nuclear technologies.
  • The cooperation will focus on using Turkey’s thorium resources in molten salt reactors and producing nuclear-grade thorium compounds domestically.
  • Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the partnership could eventually produce a commercially viable technology and reduce dependence on imported fuel.

Turkey is seeking to turn its thorium resources into a high-value nuclear technology through a new cooperation agreement with Denmark-based Copenhagen Atomics.

The Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mineral Research Agency, known as TENMAK, signed a memorandum of understanding with the company at its Çekmece campus in Istanbul. Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar attended the ceremony and later said the agreement would strengthen research and development in advanced nuclear technologies.

Bayraktar said small modular reactors, which he called “the new era of nuclear,” are being developed rapidly alongside large-scale reactors. Several countries are working on the technology, he said, while Turkey is pursuing multiple projects with public institutions and domestic investors. Government incentives from the Industry and Technology Ministry have also generated strong interest.

Small modular reactors are being developed very rapidly, and we call this the new era of nuclear.

· Alparslan BayraktarTurkey’s energy minister discussed the rapid development of small modular reactor technology.

The agreement has a particular focus on thorium. Copenhagen Atomics’ small modular reactor technology uses thorium fuel, which Bayraktar said was especially important because Turkey possesses the resource in large quantities. He said this could help reduce dependence on external fuel supplies and expressed hope that the cooperation would eventually lead to a commercial product.

The deal is intended to bring Turkish industry, technology partners, researchers and engineers into efforts to use the country’s thorium resources in advanced nuclear applications. One priority will be research and project development for producing thorium in Turkey in a form suitable for molten salt reactors.

The partners aim to produce thorium compounds that meet nuclear fuel standards using domestic capabilities and to help Turkey become an internationally competitive supplier in this field. Copenhagen Atomics is researching fourth-generation molten salt reactor concepts, including its modular “Onion Core” design, which is intended to enable thorium’s use in the nuclear fuel cycle.

Thorium is found very extensively in our country, and this is a technology in which we believe fuel dependence on foreign sources will not exist.

· Alparslan BayraktarBayraktar explained why thorium gives the cooperation particular importance.
About this summary

Originally published by Sabah in Turkish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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