In April 2018, "Nikkei" reported that Itochu would withdraw from the project, while MHI and other investors were continuing the feasibility study through the summer of 2018. The remaining members of the Japanese consortium abandoned the project in December 2018 after a failure to reach agreement with the Turkish government on financing terms. Construction costs had almost doubled to about $44 billion, because of post-Fukushima safety improvements and the fall in the value of the Turkish lira.