nuclear-news

Egypt’s Nuclear program doubts, especially cost

21 Sep 2009Egypt’s Nuclear Imbroglio

Egypt is struggling to get its nuclear energy program off the ground, three years after officially announcing the revival of its moribund civil reactor program, Dr Dominic Moran writes for ISN Security Watch.

ISN By Dominic Moran in Tel Aviv for ISN Security Watch 21 Sep 2009

The revived Egyptian civil nuclear program could be heading into choppy waters, with competition over the proposed site, problems in service-contract negotiations and ongoing doubts concerning where associated funding will come from.

Egypt suspended its energy reactor plans in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The program was revived in late 2006 and 2007 when the government announced plans for a three-to-four reactor program, with the first to be operational within 10 years…………

However, serious obstacles remain.

…………The collapse of the Bechtel offer and reportedly tough negotiations of the WorleyParsons agreement points to a crucial problem for the Egyptian program: the difficulty in finding adequate funding sources for what is a multi-billion dollar undertaking.

“No matter how much they think it is going to cost, cases around the world show the true cost will go up by even 300 percent. The workforce will be mostly imported while solar energy will cost less and give jobs to locals,” Greenpeace Mediterranean’s Nuclear and Disarmament campaigner, Sharon Dolev, told ISN Security Watch.

Egypt’s Nuclear Imbroglio / ISN

September 22, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, business and costs, MIDDLE EAST | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs