Selçuk Bayraktar speaks at the final of TEKNOFEST Nuclear Energy Technologies Design Competition

Chairman of the TEKNOFEST Board of Directors and the Türkiye Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) Board of Trustees Selçuk Bayraktar said, “Most of the energy that keeps us alive comes from the sun. There, too, nuclear reactions take place, enabling us to sustain life. That is why nuclear is so important. We are moving into a period where the world’s energy demand is increasing significantly.”

The final program of the TEKNOFEST Nuclear Energy Technologies Design Competition was held at the TENMAK Istanbul Campus with the participation of Bayraktar, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, and many others.

In his speech, Bayraktar said that the nuclear reactor is among the simplest of heat machines.

Stating that they build their own aircraft engines, Bayraktar said:

“We produce the engine of the Bayraktar TB2 ourselves. The engine of the TB3 is being built by Turkish Aerospace Industries Engine Industries Inc. (TEI) as a diesel engine. It is a very advanced engine. In addition, we are developing fighter jet engines for Bayraktar Akıncı and Bayraktar Kızılelma. Robotic technology, particularly engines, have relatively low added value. For example, like the vibration motor in a mobile phone, but when you become dependent and subjected to an embargo, you cannot even produce the aircraft. From a global perspective, nuclear technology is an old technology.”

Saying, “Most of the energy that keeps us alive comes from the sun. There, too, nuclear reactions take place,” Bayraktar continued:

“That is why nuclear is so important. We are moving into a period where the world’s energy demand is increasing significantly. As artificial intelligence increasingly enters our lives and takes on more tasks, it has even started to speak. Whether like a parrot or more than a parrot, or even a tape, it has begun to carry out many of our tasks, and we are using it to make life easier. We are using it increasingly more. The most critical element again comes back to energy, alongside the obligations imposed by the climate crisis…”

Bayraktar noted that as the world develops all other technologies, nuclear energy is seen as very critical and, in terms of producing indispensable clean energy, stands at the most optimal point compared to other renewable options.

He explained that while the cleanest energy is solar energy obtained through solar panels, when viewed from another angle, even the carbon emitted during the installation of all those solar panels is greater than that of nuclear energy. He continued:

“Türkiye is not in its rightful place in this field. We are truly at a very important center. We are at the place where Türkiye’s first experimental nuclear reactor was located and where the first studies began. We are pursuing a goal we can call our Kızılelma. The question arises of how Türkiye will reach nuclear energy capacity, national nuclear energy capacity, and how it will develop this technology on its own. When you ask what kind of independent technology the nuclear technology we develop will be, and when you begin to think about the roadmap, I see that the most important factor is training thousands of engineers.”

“TÜRKİYE HAS NOW STARTED TO HAVE A PRESENCE IN EVERY FIELD OF THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY”

“Twenty years ago in the defense industry, there were roughly 20,000 people in the defense ecosystem. Türkiye was heavily dependent on foreign countries for about 85 percent of its defense industry,” Bayraktar said, and continued:

“With the vision of localization set in the past 20 years, employment in the defense industry has risen to around 100,000–200,000, and Türkiye has now started to have a presence in every field of the defense industry. In some areas it is very ambitious, such as UAVs. It owns 65 percent of the world’s largest UAV export market. It is also capable of producing air defense systems. And now it has started moving toward rapid production. Just like in nuclear reactions, once you exceed a certain threshold energy, you become able to produce everything on your own.”

Bayraktar emphasized that TEKNOFEST was launched to achieve exactly this, and that Turkish industry has the capacity to build a nuclear reactor, especially a small modular nuclear reactor.

Bayraktar added:

“On September 17–21, the champions will receive their awards from our President and ministers in front of our nation. The magical spirit of TEKNOFEST, especially in such a field as nuclear energy technologies, which can both scare people and seem distant, but in such a colorful atmosphere, also excited me greatly”