Nuclear energy is a type of energy which is a must for industrialization and technology development especially after the 1950s. Hydraulic energy and wind power have a very low density of energy when they are compared to conventional thermal energy, which is produced by chemical burning (coal, natural gas, oil) and its density is higher than both hydraulic energy and wind power by ~ 10000 times. Thermal energy has been the main energy type used in the 19th and 20th centuries. Density of nuclear energy is 10 million - 100 million times higher than conventional thermal energy. Chemical energy production per reaction is in the range of few electron volts, but energy production from fission per reaction is 200 million electron volts and energy production from fusion is 17 million electron volts. 1/5000 of natural waters are heavy water. If extract deuterium from 1 lt of natural water and burn it in fusion reactor, produced energy will be equivalent to the energy which will be produced from burning of 300 lt of benzine.

Turkey's nuclear energy story is firstly started 40 years ago but causes like weak policies, lacking of stability and inconsistent governments prevented Turkey to have nuclear power. Since the year 2008 Turkey's attempts to have nuclear power coming into a reality which was started by the planning of building 3 nuclear power plants in Turkey which will produce 5000 MW power each. as the first stage. First bidding was for building a nuclear power plant to Akkuyu-Mersin and Turkey came to an agreement with Russia in the beginning of 2010 for building this nuclear power plant.

Turkish government was also planning to build a Center for Nuclear Technology Development to Sinop. After the verifying of ground licence of Sinop, Turkey is preparing to make an agreement with South Korea to build the second nuclear power plant to Sinop. Turkish Energy Minister announced that if there will be other offers proposed by other states than South Korea for building a nuclear power plant to Sinop, then Turkish Government would discuss them too but the success of South Korea on nuclear power plants is convincing for Turkey to make this agreement with South Korea. Turkish Energy Minister Yıldızlı also announced that their aim is to reach a 10% power level of nuclear power until the year 2020. He also announced that for producing 8000-10000 MW nuclear power, Akkuyu and Sinop power plants should be built immediately in the mean time.

Turkey seems to be in a transition to nuclear power, all these achievements are signals of this transition but issue is not that simple.Turkish government is so much optimistic about this nuclear power issue but there are lots of criticisms on this issue for both environmental aspects and there are also some criticisms which defend that Turkey is not that much prepared for nuclear power.

Turkey has to build nuclear power plants and Turkey has to use nuclear power. As a developing country nuclear power is a must but problems should not be undermined:

1) Nuclear Power Plant Law and secondary regulation for nuclear power had been designed without needed technical preparation.
2) Turkey has a Nuclear Power Plant Law but there is no Nuclear Power Law.
3) Turkey does not have a Nuclear Power Security Regulation so it seems that Turkey is not ready for nuclear power technically.
There are also some disadvantages of nuclear power which are opened to discussion by UCTEA, Chamber of Mechanical Engineers
- First investment costs of nuclear power plants are more expensive than other types of power plants.
- Their investment period is too long. (8-12 years).
- Fuel of Nuclear Power Plants can only be bought from foreign countries.
- Produced electricity is expensive in contrast to known cheap energy idea.
- Safety of the wastes and their abolishment are problematic and expensive.
- Management of Nuclear Power Plants ahave technologic risks.
- When their economic life ended, their demountation is too much expensive.

According to Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, this nuclear power achievements would bring more economic and environmental load to Turkey. These criticisms should not resignate the nuclear power policy of Turkey but government should take those critiscisms into consideration and government should fix those problems immediately to produce safe and cheap energy.

Turkey also made an agreement about uranium exchange with Iran and Brazil. Turkey will take less enriched uranium from Iran and then Turkey will give back more enriched uranium to Iran after one year. This enrichment will be made by US or France. Israel overreacted on this issue and authorities from Israel accused Iran for cheating Turkey and Brazil. Israel defends that Iran is stil a huge nuclear power and Iran threatens all the region with its nuclear developments. EU also has a similar view about the issue and does not see Iran as trustable. Iran-Turkey partnership in nuclear power should direct the government to be too much careful because of Iran's status in the world politics. Iran is seen as an important threat because of their nuclear program.

Nuclear power is not only a economic but also a strategic issue. If a country has nuclear power then you can expect more than cheap electricity from that country. So Turkey should not miss the chance and Turkey should use those achievements for being a more powerful and developed country. In other words, Turkey's weight among the world politics will increase faster if Turkey can achieve its goals in nuclear energy. Turkey's aim should being a Nuclear State which would be a member of the nuclear league. Turkey should not make nuclear power policies like Iran, policies should be open legal and they should look forward to economic and social development of Turkey through Nuclear Power.