MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - Turkey is going ahead with its plans to build a nuclear power plant just several kilometers away from the border with Bulgaria, Turkish President, Abdullah Gul said on Wednesday.

Despite earlier reports that his country has no plans to build a nuclear and a thermal power plant in the town of Igneada, five kilometers south of the border, Gul said that both projects are under consideration.

"To an extent, Turkey is an energy dependent country, and for this reason we are discussing a number of nuclear and gas energy projects,” Gul told his Bulgarian counterpart, Rosen Plevneliev, who is on an official visit to Turkey, as quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio.

“One thing, however, is certain: these projects must all be environmentally safe."

Gul also said Turkey is willing to help Bulgaria diversify its energy sources.

Igneada is a town with about 2,000 inhabitants, located 5 kilometers south of the Rezovska River, on the Bulgarian-Turkish border. First reports about Turkey’s plans to build an NPP there appeared in 2011.

In May 2010, Ankara reached an agreement with Moscow on the construction of Turkey's first NPP, in the Akkuyu district. Turkey's second NPP is to be located in Sinop on the Black Sea coast.