Tokyo Electric Power Co. has decided to withdraw from a nuclear power plant construction project in Turkey that Japan plans to bid on. TEPCO had planned to assume central role in the bid alongside the government and Toshiba Corp., but the crisis at TEPCO's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant means the company is in no position to consider participating in the Turkey project.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has decided to withdraw from a nuclear power plant construction project in Turkey that Japan plans to bid on.
TEPCO had planned to assume central role in the bid alongside the government and Toshiba Corp., but the crisis at TEPCO's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant means the company is in no position to consider participating in the Turkey project.
Junichi Matsumoto, deputy head of TEPCO's Nuclear Power and Plant Siting Division, told reporters at a news conference on July 27 that the company "will not take part" in the planned bid. The project in Turkey is "not indispensable to management," he said.
With regard to the nuclear plant project in Vietnam, for which Japan won an order through concerted efforts of the public and private sectors, Matsumoto limited himself to saying, "We wish to extend cooperation."
Turkey has said that it will withdraw, at the end of July, the priority status it is conferring on Japan in negotiations if Japan fails to clearly restate its stance to continue with the negotiations. TEPCO's withdrawal may affect the negotiations.