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Egypt's nuclear plant 'online in 10 years'

Nov. 5, 2007 at 12:01 AM

CAIRO, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Egypt’s first nuclear power plant will be online within 10 years, the convention of the country’s ruling National Democratic Party was told at the weekend.

"The first station should be working in 2017-2018," said Gamal Mubarak, son of President Hosni Mubarak and head of the party’s powerful Policy Secretariat.

Mubarak said Sunday in a speech to the party’s ninth convention that the nuclear program would ensure Egypt’s energy independence by 2022.

The party will "start work on implementing Egypt's nuclear program, which includes the building of four nuclear power stations by 2022, with energy output equal to 7 million tons of petrol," he said.

President Mubarak announced last week that Egypt would re-launch its nuclear power program -- making it the latest of 11 Arab nations to unveil plans for nuclear energy in the past year, according to Bloomberg News. The others are Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates.

Minister of Electricity Hassan Younis said the following day that Egypt will most likely buy nuclear fuel rather than produce its own.

Egypt originally launched a nuclear energy program in the 1950s, during the heyday of President Gamal Nasser's developmental ambitions, but it was abruptly shelved in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told an energy conference here last week that the EU was willing to aid Egypt in ensuring the safety of any nuclear plants it builds.

Source: UPI

France supports Egypt's right for peaceful use of nuclear energy

A senior French official on Sunday expressed France's support to Egypt's right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with international conventions, Egyptian official MENA news agency reported.

Jean-Marie Bockel, French Secretary of State for Foreign Cooperation and Francophonie Affairs, was quoted as saying that French President Nicolas Sarkozy supports Arab countries' right to possess nuclear energy for peaceful purpose.

Bockel attended the EU-Africa-Mideast conference on energy held on Thursday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

During his five-day visit in Egypt, Bockel met Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and other officials on regional issues and Mideast peace efforts.

On Monday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that Egypt will start a program to set up several power-generating nuclear stations, reasserting Egypt's resolve to go through with the nuclear energy project.

Mubarak declared in September 2006 that his country will continue its scientific research to develop peaceful nuclear technology.

Egypt had started very limited research in nuclear technologies since 1957, but its nuclear program was frozen in 1986 in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in the same year.

Egypt signed the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968 and officially supports the elimination of nuclear weapons in the region.

Source: Xinhua