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Turkish Cabinet To Discuss Controversial Nuclear Tender ANKARA (AFP) - The Turkish cabinet will evaluate plans for a controversial multi-billion dollar nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said amid reports that a tender would be scrapped. Turkey was expected to announce a decision this past Monday on the tender for the construction of a nuclear plant near Akkuyu on its Mediterranean coast. Bids from the three international consortia were to expire at midnight July 24. Ecevit told reporters the issue would be taken up during a cabinet meeting Tuesday. In an interview published in the liberal Milliyet daily Monday, the prime minister said Turkey might scrap the tender amid growing international concern over atomic energy and a treasury refusal to back the project. "We have growing concerns on nuclear energy. The world is abandoning this technology and turning to alternative energy resources," Ecevit told the daily, adding that he was also unable to fully accept nuclear energy. Asked whether the government might scrap the tender, Ecevit replied: "That is possible. We have concerns and we will make a final evaluation." Turkey has already delayed its decision on the tender eight times, asking the bidders - Westinghouse of the United States, AECL of Canada and NPI of France - to extend their offers every time. The last postponement came in April after the Turkish treasury refused to provide financial guarantees for the project on the grounds that it would damage the government's tight anti-inflation program. Last week, Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer said that Westinghouse had warned Ankara it will withdraw from the tender if it is postponed for the ninth time. Ecevit recalled Monday the treasury's reservations on the Akkuyu project in light of its possible repercussions on the ambitious anti-inflation program. The power plant "is an important factor for our economic balance as well. The treasury is of the opinion that such an investment could adversely affect the economic program and cause hardship for Turkey for the next few years," he told Milliyet. The Akkuyu project has come under fierce criticism from neighboring countries and environmentalists on the grounds that the proposed site is only 25 kilometres (15 miles) from a seismic faultline. Opposition to the plant grew after a strong earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, rocked the neighboring region of Adana in 1998, killing more than 140 people. In the face of the criticism, the Turkish government maintained that it needs the nuclear plant to meet growing energy demand
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