VZCZCXRO4754
PP RUEHDA
DE RUEHIT #0150 0860853
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 260853Z MAR 08
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA PRIORITY 2348
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7994
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000150 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG TU
SUBJECT: ISTANBUL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY RESTARTS NUCLEAR 
RESEARCH REACTOR 
 
REF: A. A. 07 ANKARA 2755 
     ¶B. B. ISTANBUL 60 
 
¶1. (U) At a ceremony attended by Turkish Energy Minister 
Guler, the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) restarted its 
research reactor in a move to kick start  Turkey,s drive to 
develop nuclear energy.   The 250 kw TRIGA Mark II reactor 
resumed operations on March 21 after being closed since 2002 
for earthquake retrofitting.  The reactor is maintained by 
the Energy Institute at ITU, who will use it for educational 
and research proposes. This development coincided with 
Turkey,s plan to develop commercial nuclear energy.  Three 
days after this ceremony, Guler formally announced tenders 
for Turkey,s first nuclear power plant (Ankara septel). 
 
¶2. (U) The resumption of the research reactor will provide 
needed training for indigenous workers for a nascent nuclear 
energy program.  Turkey,s past sporadic attempts to develop 
nuclear energy have resulted in only a handful of Turkish 
nuclear physicists. Turkey will be facing a daunting task in 
filling the demand for qualified engineers especially since 
the Chamber of Accounts struck out of the nuclear law (reftel 
a) a provision allowing foreign experts and engineers be used 
to operate the plant (Ankara septel).  At a Nuclear Energy 
Conference held earlier this year (reftel b), Dr. Necmi 
Dayday, security inspector for the IAEA and professor at 
Galatasaray University stated that ITU receives annually only 
about five applicants for the nuclear physics graduate 
program, compared to over 100 applicants 20 years ago. The 
Nuclear Energy Institute also was changed to become simply 
the Energy Institute in 2003, with nuclear research becoming 
only a branch of this organization. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Reactor Director, Dr. Ahmet Bayulken, called for 
Turkey to use indigenous nuclear fuels to avoid depending on 
foreign sources.  This echoes the sentiments of many Turkish 
speakers at the January Nuclear Energy conference (refetl a) 
who stressed that Turkey should become more self reliant to 
boost its energy security.   Turkey could potentially tap 
into its Thorium reserves, rather than obtaining enriched 
uranium.  COMMENT: Avoiding using enriched uranium will 
greatly influence the reactor choice that Turkey will 
develop. Reactors that use natural nuclear fuel, such as the 
Canadian CANDU reactor, will likely become a more attractive 
choice. In addition, the current law has a 60 percent 
domestic content prevision and it requires bidders to submit 
plans for domestic fuel production, while allowing either 
natural fuel or enriched fuel designs to complete (Ankara 
septel). END COMMENT. 
 
 
WIENER