Jordan Plans to Build First Nuclear Power Plant by 2015

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Jordan is not endowed with traditional sources of energy, such as conventional fossil fuels or hydropower, and imports more than 95% of its primary energy, which is mostly crude oil, oil products, natural gas, and some electricity. Energy imports, valued at about $3.7 billion, constituted about 19% of total imports and services, which was valued at $19.1 billion by the International Bank in 2008. The government is making efforts to develop alternatives to electricity generation based on imported fuels, such as domestic wind power and oil shale, as well as nuclear energy.

Jordan entrusted a committee headed by Prince Hamzeh Bin Al Hussein to review and modernize the country's comprehensive energy strategy. To ease the pressure on the nation's economy, infrastructure energy projects were determined to have a total value of between $14 billion and $18 billion up to 2020, in fields such as the power sector, oil sector, oil shale exploration, improving energy efficiency, renewable energy and natural gas.

Under the committee framework, Jordan's energy sector will activate its plan to prospect and explore the Jordanian desert's uranium reserve, which is estimated to be 2% of the world's reserve.

Jordan works with many partners to develop a nuclear program to build the country's first nuclear power plant in 2015; to secure 60% of the country's energy needs; to produce 100% of their energy demands by 2030; and to eliminate shortfall of water by seawater desalination.

In 2009, Toru Ishida, the director-general of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of METI (Tokyo, Japan), and Suhair Al-Ali, the minister of Planning and International Cooperation of Jordan, signed a memorandum of cooperation regarding Jordan's nuclear power program.

Khaled Toukan, the chairman of Jordan's Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) (Amman, Jordan), said: "Jordan is now working with China on prospecting and reconnaissance of uranium mining, mainly in Wadi Bahyya and Mafraq." He added, "The potential there seems to be promising and commercially viable."

This week, Jordan and France signed a contract for uranium mining which implements a Jordanian-French company in the concession area of central Jordan. Since 2008, the company has been involved in prospecting and exploration, and the amount of uranium it holds is estimated to be up to 65,000 tons.

Jordan already has signed nuclear cooperation agreements with China, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Argentina, Russia and Canada, and is scheduled to sign similar deals with Spain and Romania. Jordan is a signatory on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its additional protocol.

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