UPDATE 3-Court stalls Turkey's nuclear power plans

By Orhan Coskun ANKARA, Nov 10 (Reuters) - A Turkish court has stalled the government's plans to build its first nuclear power plant by ruling as invalid several parts of a tender for the project, the TMMOB industrial body said on Tuesday. Russia's Inter RAO and Atomstroiexport and Turkey's Park Teknik won the tender last year to construct and operate the plant, but the consortium has been in protracted negotiations with the government over electricity pricing. "The Council of State has decided to suspend three articles in the tender process," said Mehmet Soganci, chairman of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects, or TMMOB. The tender process, in which the Russian consortium was the only bidder, had been criticised for lack of transparency. Soganci said the Council of State, the country's highest court on matters of state policy, had found the tender invalid. It was unclear what the next step would be, or whether the government or consortium would appeal against the ruling. Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said it was premature to say whether the tender would be cancelled. "We are still looking into it from a legal point of view," Yildiz told reporters. The Russian consortium could try to sweeten the deal to persuade the Turkish government to overcome the court's objections, said energy analyst Haluk Direskeneli. "The decision will help the government gain some benefits in negotiations, whether those will be in the form of oil or power prices," said Direskeneli. Turkey and Russia have greatly strengthened their cooperation in energy. The site for the plant is near the town of Akkuyu in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkey aims to build at least two more plants, with potential sites near the city of Sinop on the Black Sea, as it seeks to cover a looming electricity shortage and cut dependence on imported fuel. The government wants nuclear energy to meet 20 percent of Turkey's power needs within 20 years. (Additional reporting by Pinar Aydinli and Thomas Grove in Istanbul, Writing by Thomas Grove, editing by Will Waterman and David Cowell) Keywords: TURKEY NUCLEAR/INVALID ([e-mail]; Telephone: [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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