Saturday September 22, 08:54 PM
Yemen discusses nuclear reactor with US, Canadian firms
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SANAA (AFP) - Yemen will hold talks with US and Canadian investors on funding construction of a nuclear reactor in the Arabian peninsula country, Energy and Electricity Minister Mustafa Bahran said Saturday.
The negotiations, to be held in Sanaa next week, aim at "a final agreement between the two sides" on launching the project to produce 5,000 megawatts of electricity and desalinate sea water, he told the official Saba news agency.
It will take around four years to build the reactor, Bahran said without specifying the cost or identifying the potential investors.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh said last October that Yemen plans to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes with US and Canadian help.
Bahran said last month that international companies would build the reactor with a view to ensuring the long-term energy security of Yemen, an impoverished republic with few oil deposits compared to neighbours such as OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
Tension is mounting in the Gulf region due to the suspicion among some Western powers and their regional allies that Iran is secretly developing a nuclear weapon, an accusation Tehran strongly denies.
Saleh has backed Iran's right to acquire nuclear technology for peaceful ends.
During a visit to France in June, he discussed possible cooperation over nuclear energy with President Nicolas Sarkozy, Yemeni officials said.
Bahran, who spoke after returning the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, said he had informed the UN watchdog's chief Mohamed ElBaradei of Yemen's talks with the companies.
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