Ankara will stick to its Syria policy despite Moscow

Significance Confrontations between Russian and Turkish fighter jets along the Turkish-Syrian border -- which triggered strong expressions of support for Turkey from NATO and the EU -- have followed on swiftly after Russia's intervention in Syria's civil war. Russia's intervention threatens to set back Turkey's ambitions of eventually replacing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with a mainly Sunni Islamist regime, and jeopardise Turkey's very important economic and political relations with Russia. Impacts Erdogan will attempt to pursue an inflexible and uncompromising line towards Russia despite Turkey's need for good relations. There are now strong question marks over such Russo-Turkish projects as the TurkStream gas pipeline and possibly even a nuclear power plant. If (unlikely but not impossible) AKP loses the November elections, a new government would reverse Syria policy and revive Russian relations.

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wonjun Chung ◽  
Jinbong Choi ◽  
Chang Wan Woo ◽  
Soobum Lee ◽  
Christina E. Saindon

Purpose This paper investigates whether building a nuclear power plant in a community would inherently bring local conflict phenomena such as “not in my back yard (NIMBY)”, focusing especially on the interactive effect between different types of local publics and their exposure to either a supportive or opposing message about a hypothetical local governmental plan to build a nuclear power plant on community participation intentions. Design/methodology/approach Applying the two theoretical frameworks (situational theory of publics and social exchange theory) to NIMBY, this study used a quantitative approach by using 471 participants in a 4 (publics: active, aware, aroused or inactive) × 2 (advocacy message type: supportive or opposing message) experimental design. Findings The results showed that regardless of message types, active publics were more likely to participate in community activities than any other public, but this group strongly opposed the harmful facility, while inactive publics continued to be inactive. However, aware and aroused publics were significantly influenced by messages. Originality/value The rationale and findings of this research are original, as they have not been published previously, and are not being simultaneously submitted elsewhere. This research should contribute to the broad body of knowledge and practices in community-based conflict issues in terms of risk management. It is believed that the discussion and implications of the findings should raise interesting areas for further research.


Subject Uranium prices and nuclear power. Significance The price of uranium breached 25 dollars per pound this month for the first time since last August. Boosted by Kazakhstan, the source of 41% of global uranium supplies, announcing last month that it will reduce production by 10% in 2017, the metal's price has been gradually recovering from last November's twelve-year low of 18 dollars per pound. However, the market remains oversupplied. Impacts Brexit may leave the UK nuclear sector without a regulator and short of fuel (21% of UK electricity generation is nuclear). Vietnam has abandoned its long-delayed plan to build its first nuclear power plant. South Africa has started a procurement programme to add 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity. The EU has approved the 4.5-billion-euro (4.8-billion-dollar) restructuring plan of the French nuclear group Areva.


Subject The Akkuyu nuclear plant that Turkey is building with Russia's Rosatom. Significance Since the Turkish air force downed a Russian warplane last November, bilateral relations have plunged to an all-time low. Rumours persist that Moscow has frozen funding for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant (NPP) and is unwilling to complete the project unless it can share the risk. Impacts Continued development would be an added incentive for Ankara and Moscow to repair relations. Abandoning the project would further strain relations between Ankara and Moscow. Turkey may look for other developers to complete the NPP while prioritising other forms of power generation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-31
Author(s):  
Aliaksei I. Patonia

Abstract As extreme dependence of Belarus’s economy on Russian hydrocarbons poses a national security threat, the Belarusian Government decided to mitigate this challenge by constructing a nuclear power plant (NPP) that will cover two fifths of the domestic electricity demand and contribute to increased excess electricity generating capacity for export to the EU. This article assesses a combination of diplomacy and domestic adjustments to develop four scenarios representing the most feasible mechanisms to address the challenges associated with this excess capacity. Having evaluated each scenario’s advantages, drawbacks, costs, and probability, it concludes that, in the current political and diplomatic environment, Belarus will have to consume all its NPP’s energy domestically. This, in its turn, will necessitate significant economic adjustment.


Subject Russian naval shipbuilding. Significance An accident on a secret deep-water submarine on June 1 embarrassed Russia's defence establishment. Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu rushed to assure President Vladimir Putin that the damage was repairable and the vessel's nuclear power plant was unharmed. Despite the negative optics, the accident was something of a one-off with no direct bearing on naval shipbuilding, which is forging ahead after years of delays. Impacts Defence spending is planned to stay around 24 billion dollars annually over the next three years. Rising food and liquified natural gas exports and trade shifts towards Asia and the Middle East mean Russia's maritime interests will rise. The modest size of most warships mean Russia is a long way from true global 'blue water' naval capacity.


Author(s):  
Mingjie Dong ◽  
Jianfeng Li ◽  
Wusheng Chou

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a new positioning method for remotely operated vehicle (ROV) in the nuclear power plant. The ROV of the nuclear power plant is developed to inspect the reactor cavity pools, the component pools and spent-fuel storage pools. To enhance the operational safety, the ability of localizing the ROV is indispensable. Design/methodology/approach Therefore, the positioning method is proposed based on the MEMS inertial measurement unit and mechanical scanning sonar in this paper. Firstly, the ROV model and on board sensors are introduced in detail. Then the sensor-based Kalman filter is deduced for attitude estimation. After that, the positioning method is proposed that divided into static positioning and dynamic positioning. The improved iterative closest point-Kalman filter is deduced to estimate the global position by the whole circle scanning sonar data in static, and the relative positioning method is proposed by the small scale scanning sonar data in dynamic. Findings The performance of the proposed method is verified by comparing with the visual positioning system. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is proved by the experiment in the reactor simulation pool of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant. Originality/value The research content of this manuscript is aimed at the specific application needs of nuclear power plants and has high theoretical significance and application value.


Author(s):  
Sayanti Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Jessica Halligan ◽  
Makarand Hastak

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the major causes of the nuclear power plant (NPP) disasters since 1950, elucidates the commonalities between them and recommends strategies to minimize the risk of NPP disasters. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyzes facts from five case studies: Chernobyl disaster, USSR 1986; Fukushima Daiichi disaster, Japan 2011; Three Mile Island incident, USA 1979; Chalk River Accident, Canada 1952; and SL-1 Accident, USA 1961. A qualitative approach is adopted to compare and contrast the major reasons that led to the accidents, and consequent social and technological impacts of the disasters on environment, society, economy and nuclear industry are analyzed. Findings Although each of the nuclear accidents is unique in terms of its occurrence and impacts, this research study found some common causes behind the accidents. Faulty system design, equipment failure, inadequate safety and warning systems, violation of safety regulations, lack of training of the nuclear operators and ignorance from the operators and regulators side were found to be the major common causes behind the accidents. Originality/value This paper recommends some of the nuclear disaster risk reduction strategies in terms of “lessons learned from the past accidents”. The findings of the research paper would serve as an information tool for the nuclear professionals for informed decision-making and planning for proper preventive measures well in advance so that the mistakes which led to the occurrence of accidents in the past are not repeated in the future.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document