CAIRO - President Hosni Mubarak Saturday discussed moves towards building the first nuclear power plant in Egypt at a meeting of the Higher Council for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Power. Bids for the first plant for nuclear power was reviewed during the meeting attended by ministers of defence, electricity, finance, housing and international co-operation as well as Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. In October 2006, Mubarak announced Egypt's intention to go nuclear – not for a weapons capability, but for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Since then, the Ministry of Electricity has taken some moves ranging from issuing a law to regulate the nuclear usage to allocating a site in northern Egypt for the first plant. Prime Minister Nazif said last week a bid to build the nuclear power plant would be declared before the end of this month. "The building of such a nuclear plant will take around seven years as its capacity is expected to reach 1,000-1,2000 megawatt," Electricity Minister Hassan Younis said. Earlier in the day, Mubarak had conferred with Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd in Cairo which focused on the Middle East peace Process. "Australia is concerned because no real progress has been made in the US-brokered peace process and time is running out," Rudd told reporters after the talks, which also covered trade ties between Egypt and Australia. He added that the construction of new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank undermined the push for a peace settlement, which should pave the way for an independent Palestinian state and guarantee Israeli's security. Rudd had arrived on Friday in Cairo for a three-day visit to mark the 60th anniversary of the launch of diplomatic ties between Australia and Egypt.
