Akkuyu NPP Receives Generation License

First pouring of the concrete is expected in March 2018

The Turkish Energy Market Regulation Authority (EPDK) issued a Generation License to Akkuyu Nuclear JSC for Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant which will be the first nuclear power plant in Turkey. The license is valid until 15.06.2066 (49 years).

Akkuyu Nuclear JSC expects to complete the remaining permits within 2017 and receive the main construction license until March 2018. Construction work for the nuclear plant is expected to begin after this date.

The power plant with a planned 4,800 MW installed power capacity is expected to become operational by 2025 according to the agreement, but Akkuyu Nuclear JSC has vowed to complete the work by Oct. 29, 2023, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Republic.

Readers can find below a short infographic that shows the licensing process of Akkuyu NPP since 2010 with a list of remaining steps to be taken until the first pouring of concrete:  

Akkuyu NPP Licensing Process since 2010

INPPS 2017 Nuclear Trade Matchmaking Forum

Turkey is planning to start operating two nuclear power plants until 2023. Plans for developing a third power plant is already underway with a Chinese – American consortium.  

Nuclear Industry Association of Turkey recently organized a business matchmaking forum in partnership with Kaan Şekerciler Business Communication Services that brought main contractors of the nuclear power plant projects in Turkey together with the manufacturers which are planning to involve in the construction of these mega-projects.

The event which has been held between 8 – 9 March 2017 in Pullmann Airport Convention Center in Istanbul, Turkey under the patronage of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources allowed 98 exhibiting companies to set more than 290 pre-scheduled appointments with the licensees of the Turkish NPP projects and major contractors from all tiers of the supply chain.

Nuclear Trade Matchmaking Forum which is organized for the third time in 2017 as part of the International Nuclear Power Plants Summit (INPPS) saw an influx of Turkish manufacturers that are looking for international partners for joint-ventures and technology transfers.  

Apart from industry giants like Rosatom, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries or Siemens the event also hosted a number of small to medium enterprises in nuclear industry which are looking for opportunities in the 75-billion-dollar market that is enabled by the three Turkish NPP projects.

Reflecting the ever-growing interest of Turkish SMEs in nuclear industry, Ankara Chamber of Commerce signed an MOU with Russian SOJUZATOMSTROJ, ROSATOM-CICE&T and Czech Power Industry Association for cooperation on training for nuclear manufacturing.   

Commenting on the success of the summit Mr. Koray Tuncer -General Secretary of the Nuclear Industry Association of Turkey stated: “In spite of the political volatility in Turkey’s borders and security concerns of many international attendees we were able to increase our attendee number 10% and hosted nuclear industry delegations from France, UK and Germany. We believe our matchmaking programme has quite an effect on this success.”

For further information please contact Kadir Kaan Şekerciler: kaan@kaansekerciler.com 

Nuclear Industry Delegation to Korea

I leaded a delegation consisting of Turkish and Russian companies which are actively working to involve in nuclear power plant projects in Turkey to Gyeongju city of South Korea to participate the Korean Nuclear Industry Exhibition organized by Korean Nuclear Power Times newspaper.

Industry representatives within the delegation conducted B2B meetings with small and medium sized Korean manufacturers which seek to involve in the nuclear power plant projects in Turkey.

At the end of the meetings it has been decided that a delegation of companies that consist of Korean manufacturers to participate INPPS in 8 – 9 March 2017. These companies will participate the Nuclear Trade Matchmaking Programme to investigate Joint-venture and technology transfer opportunities.

The delegation will be led by Korean Nuclear Association for InternationalCooperation. I’ll provide detailed information on the delegation through here in following weeks.

I wish to thank Korea Nuclear Power Times and their organization team for covering our travel and accommodation expenses and for their hospitality.

VVER 1200 Type Nuclear Reactor in Smartphones

The company "ATOMPROEKT" has developed a mobile application that allows smartphone users to evaluate the safety of modern nuclear power plants and understand the process of obtaining energy.

The application is made up with the minimum amount of text and maximum interactivity. This way the application allows a nuclear power plant to be "tested" on the extreme effects: the fall of a meteorite explosion, snow loads, earthquake. This way the users can experience the active and passive safety systems NPP by themselves.


The application is based on an "AES - 2006" model reactor. This Russian nuclear power plant model is considered to be a Generation 3+ Reactor. This reactor tyoe is the same model which will be constructed in Akkuyu NPP in Turkey. VVER 1200 type reactors are currently being constructed in
Leningrad region (Leningrad NPP-2) and in the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian NPP), a preparatory work to construct these reactors is being carried out at the site of "Hanhikivi NPP" in Finland. 


The application is available in Russian, English and Turkish. 

Link for the app in Google Play.  ( for Android devices )

Link for the app in the AppStore. ( for iPhone users )

Nuclear Business Development Platform in Turkey

Turkey’s only official nuclear energy conference is adding a matchmaking forum to its schedule in order to allow Turkish corporations to find partners from nuclear energy industry.

The Republic of Turkey Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources plan to build three nuclear power plants by 2023. The tenders for the first two projects - Akkuyu NPP and Sinop NPP – have already been awarded. The construction of Turkey’s first NPP will start in late 2015 and will be led by Rosatom. The second NPP in Sinop will be constructed by ATMEA a joint consortium led by Areva and Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Total worth of both projects are estimated between 45 – 50 billion USD and Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources regularly announce that up to 16 billion USD worth of contracts are planned to be awarded to Turkish companies.

However, as Turkey doesn’t have a nuclear energy history, Turkish companies lack nuclear references which are a pre-requisite of most large scale nuclear contracts. Yet, this situation doesn’t stop industry conglomerates in Turkey from chasing a larger portion from these projects.

Renaissance Construction - one of the biggest Turkish construction groups and world’s 53^rd largest construction contractor - recently acquired 75% shares of Heitkamp IKB – a German engineering group experienced in nuclear constructions. Renaissance Construction announced that with this acquisition they aim to participate not only in Turkish NPP projects but also other nuclear projects in Europe including the second nuclear power plantproject in Finland.

Experts claim that Turkey based companies will continue similar acquisitions in nuclear energy and other large groups in Turkey are currently on the look out for similar deals with European companies.

INPPS Nuclear Matchmaking Forum

As a sign of this rising trend, Nuclear Engineers Association of Turkey is transforming its flagship event – İstanbul Nuclear Power Plants Summit (INPPS) – into a technology exchange and business development platform which will allow Turkish companies to identify and network with international nuclear manufacturers willing to exchange their technology or are interested in joint ventures.

After a successful conference in May 2014 which is held under the patronization of Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and supported by literally all the public administrations related to energy generation in Turkey, the INPPS organization committee added a nuclear matchmaking forum to the 2015 edition of the event

INPPS Nuclear Matchmaking Forum is designed to allow face to face meetings between international nuclear manufacturers, Turkish corporations interested to step into the nuclear energy industry, main contractors of the NPP projects in Turkey and nuclear energy contractors from all tiers around the world.

Participants of the matchmaking forum will be able to select who they would like to meet weeks before the event and will receive an appointment schedule when they arrive to the conference in Istanbul. Company profiles of the forum participants’ will remain active for a year in the INPPS online catalogue which will function as the first nuclear reference book for the Turkish nuclear energy industry.

The forum is officially supported by Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and has a crowded list of public and private sector backers. A full list of supporters and detailed information on nuclear matchmaking forum can be reviewed in the event’s website at: www.nuclearpowerplantssummit.com  

A detailed brochure on the forum can be obtained by sending a mail to the event's Business Development Director  Kaan Şekerciler at: kaan@nuclearpowerplantssummit.com  

B2B MATCHMAKING MEETINGS IN TRADE SHOWS

Matchmaking meetings are pre-scheduled, face-to-face, networking meetings between an event’s participants. They are a popular method of increasing the efficiency of trade events. 72.7% of the trade fair organizers surveyed by UFI in 2012 claimed that they have organized at least one matchmaking event in past 3 years.

In this article I try to present a few successful examples of matchmaking meetings embedded in trade fairs.

1. Paid Matchmaking Modules

Match & Meet Platform 

Match & Meet Platform is a detailed example of how a matchmaking event can be used as an income generator for an already hit trade fair. This platform offers participants the opportunity to identify and contact matching customers and suppliers on the basis of profile information contained in a variety of participation packages comprising different services. The spectrum of services extends from online contact management to appointment scheduling and personal meetings organization during the show.

Match & Meet Platform consists of five different service packages aiming four different user groups: Visitors, Exhibitors, Non-Exhibiting Vendors and Visitor Delegations. Registration is free. However free users can only respond to meeting requests made by other participants. In order to browse the database and make your own meeting selections you need to upgrade to a 3 day trial-version which will cost 99 €. Full membership cost 300 € for visitors.

Deutsche Messe will integrate Match & Meet Service to five hit shows they are organizing in Germany in 2013. These are: Domotex, CeBIT, Hannover Fair, BioTechnica and Ligna.

Full details on Match & Meet Service can be reviewed in the CeBIT website.

Euromine Expo & Conference                         

Paid matchmaking services have the advantage of only addressing the interested professionals – which promise better results to the participants. Payment can be a tool to keep unrelated people out of the system. Euro Mine Expo & Conference in Sweden which organized a matchmaking event for industry professionals attending the show in 2012 requested only 50 € from non-exhibitors and 25 € from exhibitors and conference delegates.

Below are some other examples of paid B2B Matchmaking modules embedded into exhibitions:

FASHION & TEXTILE RIGA 2013	BT1 Int’l Exhibitions	Latvia
ALIHANKINTA 2012	Tampereen Messut	Finland
BALTIC TEXTILE + LEATHER	UAB	Lithuania

2. Matchmaking Meetings Integrated in Hosted Buyer Programs

Hosted buyer programs attract qualified volume buyers to trade shows. In these programs, flight and accommodation costs of the buyers are covered by the trade show organizers. The organizers in return expect buyers to meet with a specific number of exhibitors. The meetings are held in a designated area separated from the main show floor –mostly a VIP Buyer Lounge created within one of the exhibition halls. Buyers select the exhibitors they will meet from a digital directory and use an embedded online scheduling system to book the appointments. Exhibitors also use the same system to request meeting with a hosted buyer. Every buyer has a daily meeting program which is controlled by the organizer. Matchmaking team manning the VIP Buyer Lounge can keep track of the appointments taken by each exhibitor and re-schedule any meeting which has been cancelled or postponed. Some organizers take their hosted buyers’ credit card details and charge a compensation fee for any appointment not taken by the buyer. The number of obligatory meetings per buyer changes 6 to 10 per day.

Below are some of the exhibitions that are using matchmaking meetings as an integral part of their hosted buyer programs.

MEETINGS AFRICA 2013 Hosted Buyer Program

SEAFEX Middle East & Africa Seafood Exhibition Hosted Buyer Program

IMEX 2013 Hosted Buyer Program

3. Matchmaking Modules Free and Open for All Attendees

According to a survey made by UFI in 2011, 75% of the trade show organizers do not charge a fee for matchmaking services. The reason is obvious: Matchmaking meetings promise a much higher value than money to the events they have been integrated. Matchmaking modules increase the business value of trade shows both for the exhibitors and visitors. They also increase the satisfaction of all attendants and add credibility to the show –ensuring higher attendance for the next edition. In the same survey on matchmaking made by UFI, 89,9% of the organizers claimed that their exhibitors have appreciated the matchmaking program integrated into their shows. Visitor appreciation level is stated as 85.3%.

NANOTECH 2013 JAPAN             

Qualification is the key point in matchmaking meetings. As long as you have a team dedicated to matchmaking program, free modules can be as efficient as paid matchmaking events. They can even be better. NANOTECH 2013 Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference in Japan offers ICS Business Matching System both to their visitors & exhibitors. The online appointment scheduling system allows participants to search the event database for potential business contacts, alert them on potential business opportunities and automatically arrange appointments. System allows Visitor-Visitor, Visitor-Exhibitor and Exhibitor – Exhibitor connections. This means a professional visitor registered to the matchmaking module may have opportunity to introduce his product or services to other visitors just like an exhibitor.

POLAGRA

Polish agro-food show POLAGRA organizes a different and less detailed kind of matchmaking event. The organizer holds separate thematic meetings to facilitate business between the members of two main industries within the show: Milk Sector Meeting & Meat Sector Meeting.  Applications are qualified by the organizer. After a participant (visitor & exhibitor) is approved by the organizer he can attend a seminar where he will receive information on the products & services of the attending corporations. Interested participants then stay for the second part of the event where they meet with the other attendants. This is little more than a product demonstration for pre-screened visitors. However it still adds much value to the exhibition it is integrated. You can receive a more detailed introduction in this program in the following link:

POLAGRA Matchmaking Meeting

Below are several other exhibitions which offer a free B2B Matchmaking for their registered visitors and exhibitors:

AIRTEC 2013 Frankfurt	Airtec Gmbh	Germany
ECOBUILD 2013	UBM	UK
EWEA 2013	EWEA	Austria
SIFER 2013 Rail Show	Mackbrooks	France

                             

Imports Potential of Turkey

My purpose in publishing this table is to give international organizers an idea about the imports potential of Turkey in different industries. Following information may be useful for people planning export delegations to Turkey and organizers hosting buyer delegations in their trade fairs.

Total Imports Figure of Turkey in 2003 – 2011 Term.

Turkey imported 1.24 Trillion US$ worth products and services in 2003 – 2011 term. Below is a breakdown of total imports in sectors.

  

Sector	Total Imports
Base Metals	142.670.000.000	US $
Automotive	111.304.000.000	US $
Chemicals	179.755.000.000	US $
Machinery & Hardware	118.002.000.000	US $
Crude Oil & Natural Gas	119.762.000.000	US $
Textiles	39.614.000.000	US $
Coke Coal, Petroleum Products	75.593.000.000	US $
Apparels, Fashion, Clothing	11.429.000.000	US $
Electric Machines	47.349.000.000	US $
Agriculture & Forestry	38.315.000.000	US $
Food & Beverages	23.477.000.000	US $
TV Sets, Communication Equipment	41.529.000.000	US $
Metalware	21.138.000.000	US $
Plastics & Rubber	23.155.000.000	US $
Mining Equipment	39.528.000.000	US $
Furniture	16.672.000.000	US $

Of course there are many sub divisions in these categories which can offer profit for event organizers. For example the table doesn't list enormous local retail chains that have huge buying potential nor does it give any hint about giant potential that the country’s thriving construction industry offers.

However it is a good point to start for a total outsider as it clearly shows some facts that maybe useful for trade event organizers. Referencing the above table and my experiences in the market I made the below list which may be of use for any event planner considering Turkey as a target market:

Sectors From Turkey with Most Buying Potential

Chemical Technologies & Products

Energy Technologies, Renewable & Alternative Energies

Metal & Metal Technologies

Machine Tools & Hardware, Spare Parts

Automotive

Medical Equipment & Machinery

Pharmaceutical Chemicals & Machinery

Coal, Coal Mining & Coal Technology

Non-Food Retail Items

Shopping Mall & Supermarket Equipments

Optics

Computers and related hardware

Mobile Phones, Smart Phones and Accessories

As a person organizing buyer missions from Turkey for overseas trade fairs, I am constantly in contact with volume buyers from these industries. I'd be glad to cooperate with organizers planning export missions to or hosted buyer delegations from Turkey. My references and latest projects I'm involved are listed in my website.