On July 23, a major protest erupted at the construction site of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant located in Turkey’s Mersin Province. Workers, angry over delayed wage payments, blocked traffic on a nearby road. Police forces were dispatched to the scene and used water cannons to disperse the demonstrators, reports Baltimore Chronicle.
Kazakh journalist Mikhail Kozachkov shared in his Telegram channel that he received footage of the protest and the police crackdown from a fellow Kazakh citizen currently working at the site. The video shows workers obstructing the road, damaging passing vehicles. A man recording the scene is heard saying that protesters are hurling stones and pieces of rebar.
According to the journalist, approximately 200 Kazakh nationals are employed at the plant construction.
The Russian state corporation Rosatom, which is managing the project, stated that the workers involved were employed by one of the subcontracting firms. Rosatom blamed the incident on the actions of “unfriendly countries” that, according to the company, are trying to undermine Russian nuclear initiatives. The statement did not specify which countries were involved.
The corporation claims that a significant portion of the project’s funds has been frozen due to interference from third-party nations. Nevertheless, Rosatom asserts that construction is ongoing across all four reactor units and on auxiliary infrastructure, and that the company is working with Turkish authorities to ensure uninterrupted financing.
Construction of the Akkuyu plant began in 2018, with a total estimated cost of $20 billion. The project includes four power units equipped with Generation 3+ VVER-1200 reactors. The launch of the first unit has been postponed multiple times, with Rosatom citing Western sanctions and the refusal of Germany’s Siemens to supply essential equipment.
Earlier we wrote that russian workers at Akkuyu NPP unpaid for two months.