A possible deal with South Korea for the construction of a nuclear power plant in northern Turkey is being held up by disagreement on terms, a senior Turkish official was quoted as saying on Monday.
Turkey has said it remains open to proposals from other companies if better terms are offered for the project, estimated to worth about 20 billion dollars (14.4 billion euros).
"We have not been able to reach a conclusion yet," Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said after talks with South Korean officials in Ankara, Anatolia news agency reported.
The minister said issues concerning financial terms, treasury guarantees and the distribution of shares in the planned company that would build and operate the plant are yet to be sorted out, according to Anatolia.
The state power companies of Turkey and South Korea had signed a preliminary deal in March, paving the way for talks aimed at concluding an inter-governmental agreement to build a nuclear power plant at Sinop, on Turkey's northern Black Sea coast.
Yildiz expressed hope of a breakthrough at a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Group 20 summit in Seoul this week, to be attended by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak.
Overriding opposition from environmentalists, Turkey signed a deal worth 20 billion dollars (14.3 billion euros) with Russia in May to build the country's first nuclear power plant, at Akkuyu on the southern Mediterranean coast.
Ankara's objective is to have nuclear plants up and running in at least two regions in 2023.
The talks with Russia and South Korea came as part of renewed Turkish efforts to acquire atomic energy after an initial tender failed last year.
Turkey plans to build a total of three nuclear power plants in hopes of preventing a possible energy shortage and reducing dependence on foreign supplies.
Ankara abandoned an earlier plan to build a nuclear plant at Akkuyu in 2000 amid a severe financial crisis and protests from environmentalists.
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