Nuclear power plant goes ahead despite protest in Mersin
09:10
JINHA
NEWS CENTER – Environmentalists locked the doors at the groundbreaking ceremony of Turkey's first nuclear power plant yesterday in the southern Mersin province. The groundbreaking ceremony went ahead after police fired a water cannon at the protestors.
The nuclear facility, a marine-based facility located in the Akkuyu district, has faced steep protest, with associations of Turkey's engineers, lawyers, doctors, as well as Greenpeace suing over the insufficient information in the environmental impact assessment report on the plant. The lawsuit says the report provides no explanation of who will be held economically and socially responsible in the case of an accident, earthquake risk and impacts on marine ecosystems.
Environmentalists briefly shut down the groundbreaking ceremony, locking the iron doors of the nuclear facility and carrying banners comparing the Akkuyu power plant with Japan’s Fukushima power plant. Police dispersed the demonstrators with a water cannon.
High-level attendees at the ceremony included Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız, Russian Atomic Energy Agency Rosatom General Manager Sergey Kiriyenko, and Fuad Akhundov, general manager of the Akkuyu nuclear company.
Greenpeace protestors also staged simultaneous protests in Istanbul, saying they didn't want to pay the eventual deadly price of nuclear power.
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