By Xinhua,
Amman : Jordan entered into a preliminary nuclear accord on Sunday with Britain in a bid to take advantage of the latter’s expertise to facilitate its civil nuclear program, a senior Jordanian official said.
Chairman of Jordan Atomic Energy Commission Khalid Touqan told reporters that the U.K. and Jordan have agreed in a memorandum to join efforts to promote “the establishment of a reliable source of nuclear fuel for future civilian light water nuclear reactors” in the energy scarce kingdom.
“The two sides also agreed to work together to develop human resources and nuclear safety, as well as generate power and desalinating water through nuclear energy,” he added.
It is expected to lead to a cooperation agreement between the two countries later this year, according to Touqan.
The memorandum was inked by Touqan and the British embassy’s deputy head of mission John Casson on behalf of visiting chairperson of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Barbara Thomas Judge.
Judge arrived in Amman on Saturday to discuss the cooperation between Jordan and Britain in developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
In a Saturday interview, she reaffirmed that Britain is ready to cooperate with Jordan and to provide Jordan with expertise in the nuclear energy field for peaceful uses.
On Sunday, Judge held talks with Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi on ways to enhance energy cooperation, mainly on peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Dahabi, for his part, expressed hopes to get British assistance in constructing and operating its nuclear plant and to benefit from the British experiment in this field.
Unlike its oil-rich neighbors, Jordan, home to some 6 million people, lacks energy resources. It imports 95 percent of its energy needs and has an annual water deficit of more than 500 million cubic meters, official data showed.
Officials have said the government plans to bring its first nuclear plant on line by 2015 and hopes nuclear power will make up30 percent of energy production by 2030.
It has so far reached similar agreements with Canada, France and the United States on civil nuclear cooperation.