Russia Signs $20 Billion Deal for Turkish Nuclear Power Plant

"This will be the first case in which Russia not only builds a power plant, as we have in Iran and India, but will also own it," Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russian state nuclear holding company Rosatom Corp., told reporters in Ankara during a trip by President Dmitry Medvedev to the Turkish capital.

Atomstroyexport, Russia's reactor builder, will own 100 percent of the project, and may later sell as much as 49 percent to investors, Kiriyenko said. "Turkish investors are interested. We're also holding talks with European investors." He declined to name potential buyers.