AFP reported that following the nuclear disaster in Japan, experts in Jordan want their energy poor country to drop its ambitious plans to generate atomic power despite reassurances by the kingdom's nuclear regulator.

Mr Rauf Dabbas environment ministry adviser said that "The project lacks environmental assessment and feasibility studies. We do not know its actual cost. We do not know what precautions should be taken to prevent a nuclear catastrophe in the country."

Mr Dabbas said that the biggest challenge for Jordan is the cooling systems. How can a water poor country like the kingdom build a nuclear plant? With desert covering 92% of its territory, Jordan, one of the world's 10 driest countries is battling to face chronic water shortages and meet needs for its increasing population of 6.3 million.

He said that our entire region is exposed to earthquakes. We are a small country and any nuclear leak will remain in Jordan for 5,000 years. There are alternative solutions, like building solar and wind power systems, which can produce thousands of megawatts. Also, we can always ration our energy consumption.

Jordan, which imports about 95% of its energy needs has signed nuclear cooperation agreements with several countries including Japan in a bid to produce atomic energy for power generation and water desalination. Its 1.2 billion tonnes of phosphate reserves are estimated to contain 130,000 tonnes of uranium and the government wants the first nuclear plant to be ready by 2019.

A Japanese and French consortium as well as Russian and Canadian groups, are seeking to win a bid for the project while South Korea has loaned Jordan USD 70 million to help build a five-megawatt nuclear research reactor worth USD 130 million.

But concerns in the kingdom have been growing after 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan's northeast coast on March 11 and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant began leaking radiation into the air, sea and soil, contaminating farm produce and making its way into tap water.

(Sourced from AFP)