CAIRO: On Tuesday, Egyptian Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younes said his country plans to construct at least four nuclear reactors by 2025. One of those reactors will be ready for operation within 9 years, he added. Nuclear power is something Egypt has been seriously considering for the past few years and a number of government officials have pointed to nuclear power as a means of curtailing water and energy shortages expected to arise in the coming years. Mohammed Taha al-Qulaili, head of the Atomic Energy Authority, said that 20 percent of the energy produced in the country should come via nuclear. He stressed that this is not a matter of “welfare,†but is the inevitable alternative, saying that “energy sources in Egypt are depleted and we are in a desperate need of an alternative nuclear program in light of the impossibility of establishing hydro plants to generate electricity on the river and solar energy is expensive.†Qulail argued that solar energy would not be able to meet the country’s requirements and that Egypt “should bear in mind that the nuclear plant to be established, will not be fruitful or allow us to take advantage of its production before at least 10 years.†He also said that the ministry hopes “to produce about 4000 MW of energy by building four reactors within one station.” At the same time, Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Uzi Landau announced his country's plan to erect a nuclear plan in coordination with other Arab nations. Israel is not a signatory to the non-nuclear proliferation treaty and can develop nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes without the scrutiny of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In a statement on the sidelines of the International Conference on Access to Civil Nuclear Energy in Paris, Younes said Egypt fully supports all initiatives seeking to facilitate access to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, while taking into account agreements restricting the proliferation of nuclear weapons. At the same conference, Landau described his Israel's hopes to build a nuclear plant with the help of its Arab neighbors, saying there is “technical infrastructure, expertise and incentive to work in this field.” **additional reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
