Jordan gives up idea of large nuclear power plant

The chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, Dr. Khaled Toukan, announced today that his country has abandoned the idea of ​​establishing a nuclear power plant, which was planned to be built with Russian technology with a capacity of 2,000 megawatt.

Dr. Toukan told a news conference that the commission has abandoned the construction of a large plant and will consider building small reactors. The chairman added that small reactors need less funding and are more likely to be sponsored internationally than large stations.

Read: Jordan gets £500m for reforms from World Bank

The official explained that the small reactors began to appear world wide after Fukushima nuclear disaster and the scientific developments that followed this incident.

He added that the Commission signed two memorandums of understanding with China National Nuclear Corporation to conduct economic feasibility studies of Chinese technology this year.

He clarified also that the Commission is currently negotiating with China  to build the same reactor that China is currently constructing, indicating that no contract will be signed before the actual activation of the Chinese reactor and linking it to the network for two years at least.