Turkish debate nuclear energy

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ANKARA, Turkey, June 10 (UPI) -- Turkish ambitions for a nuclear power plant are complicated by the high price offered by the single bidder for the project, officials say.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said the Cabinet will consider the bid when the Turkish Electricity Trading and Contracting Co., or TETAS, sends it report to lawmakers on the tender from the Russian-Turkish consortium AtomStroyExport-Inter Rao-Park Teknik.

"It is likely that the report will be sent in the coming week," said Yildiz.

The current global recession has put a crunch on federal budget allocations for the project, reports Turkish daily Today's Zaman.

Meanwhile, objections were raised to the cost of electricity from the project, estimated at 170 percent higher than markets averages of 8.33 cents per kilowatt hour n 2008.

For their part, the non-governmental Chamber of Electrical Engineers and the Anti-Nuclear Platform launched legal challenges to the deal, claiming the bidding process was incorrectly carried out.

The Turkish Cabinet is expected to debate the contract at a Monday session. The consortium will sign the contract and move toward construction on the 4,800-megawatt facility if no objections are raised following the Monday meeting.