Firms in final race for Turkey's nuclear plant bid

A Chinese company and a Japanese-French joint bidder entered the final race for building Turkey's second nuclear plant, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Thursday.

"The competition continues. We are still in talks with China and Japan," said Yildiz.

China, Japan, South Korea and Canada were the short-listed contenders for a bid race of a 5,000-megawatt nuclear power plant, which will be built in the Black Sea province of Sinop, some 700 km east of Istanbul.

In order to win the 25-billion-U.S. dollar tender, Japanese companies Itochu and Mitsubishi have formed a joint bid with French company GDF Suez.

The Chinese bidder, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co., is a large clean energy corporation.

Last month, Canada dropped out of the competition, followed by South Korea due to the failure to provide a treasury guarantee.