nuclear-news

Jordan’s nuclear and uranium programmes not economically viable

lawmakers and activists cast doubt over the economic feasibility of the nuclear drive, accusing the JAEC of deliberately underestimating reactor construction costs to “mislead public opinion”.

Participants also called into question the country’s uranium mining ambitions, claiming that the feasibility studies carried out by French firm AREVA, which is currently carrying out an exploration of uranium deposits in the central region, have revealed that the Kingdom’s
reserves are “commercially unviable”.

Nuclear programme ‘in violation of parliamentary motion’ [Jordan Times, Amman] By Taylor Luck,   July 10–AMMAN –– Lawmakers and activists have called on the government to suspend the country’s nuclear programme, accusing officials of violating a parliamentary motion calling for halting the project.
In a public dialogue on a parliamentary report on the Kingdom’s
nuclear programme on Sunday, lawmakers accused the Jordan Atomic
Energy Commission (JAEC) of violating a binding parliamentary motion
passed last month requiring officials to halt all work on the
country’s first nuclear reactor pending the completion of financial
feasibility and environmental impact assessments.
“We issued a clear motion requiring the commission to halt all work on
the nuclear reactor until we know the true costs and its health and
environmental impacts,” said Jamal Gammo, who heads the Lower House
Energy Committee, which issued the report.
“Unfortunately work has gone on uninterrupted in direct violation of
our motion and the will of the public.”……
During the open session, lawmakers and activists cast doubt over the economic feasibility of the nuclear drive, accusing the JAEC of deliberately underestimating reactor construction costs to “mislead public opinion”.
“The commission has repeatedly quoted a price tag of $5 billion… but
after thorough research the committee determined that the average
international cost of a 1,100 megawatt reactor exceeds $10 billion,”
Gammo claimed.
MP Mahmoud Kharabsheh, a vocal critic of the nuclear programme, said
the committee’s findings revealed that potential malfunctions require
the establishment of two reactors, which pushes the programme’s price
tag to over $20 billion.
“This programme is going to cost Jordan nearly twice the national
budget; how are we going to pay for these reactors at the end of the
day?” Kharabsheh remarked….
During Sunday’s debate, former JAEC vice commissioner Nidal Xoubi
noted that uranium mining will require some 60 million cubic metres of
water per year, an amount that Jordan, classified as the fourth
water-poorest country in the world, cannot afford.
Participants also called into question the country’s uranium mining ambitions, claiming that the feasibility studies carried out by French firm AREVA, which is currently carrying out an exploration of uranium deposits in the central region, have revealed that the Kingdom’s
reserves are “commercially unviable”.
They also charged that the JAEC’s repeated relocation of the preferred
site for the nuclear reactor — from Aqaba to Mafraq to the eastern
desert region of Hallabat — was a sign that the commission’s decision
making is based on “politics, not science”…..
http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-07-10&val=255782&cat=energy

July 11, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Jordan, opposition to nuclear