“We hope to sign the agreement with Washington soon and Jordan is on the way to sign an agreement with the Japanese government,” Hassan said, according to a Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation statement.
– Edited by April Murelio –
According to a report in The Jordan Times, nuclear cooperation talks between Jordan and the US are ongoing, with an agreement expected “within months”, officials have announced.
“We are currently negotiating with the U.S. to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement and we expect to have this agreement signed in the next few months,” Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Chairman Khaled Toukan said in response to a question during the ceremony, according to the statement.
Toukan pointed out that Jordan signed its first memorandum of understanding in the nuclear field with the US back in September 2007.
Despite the absence of an NCA, there is ongoing cooperation between the two countries in the nuclear field including joint projects between the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the US Department of Energy and the Jordan Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
A nuclear cooperation agreement is a prerequisite for the transfer and sale of nuclear technology and nuclear fuel as well as cooperation at different levels.
Jordan has previously signed NCAs with France, Spain, China, South Korea, Canada, Russia, the UK and Argentina.
The Kingdom is on pace to construct two 1,000-megawatt Generation III reactors in the next 15 years in order to increase the country’s energy independence.
The JAEC and consultant Worley Parsons are currently considering Canadian, Russian and French-Japanese technologies for the first reactor, slated to be built on a site near Aqaba and operational by the end of the decade.
During a signing ceremony for a South Korean soft loan to fund the country’s first nuclear research reactor yesterday, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Jafar Hassan said “serious and positive” talks are ongoing with the U.S. to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement (NCA).
“We hope to sign the agreement with Washington soon and Jordan is on the way to sign an agreement with the Japanese government,” Hassan said, according to a Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation statement.
In the statement, he stressed that there is an international consensus on Jordan’s need for atomic energy and that there are no objections or reservations by any party hindering the Kingdom’s nuclear drive.
He pointed out that American officials have shown “understanding” towards the Kingdom’s need to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes to end its reliance on energy imports. The country currently imports energy for 96 per cent of its needs at a cost of 13 per cent of the gross domestic product.