There is great concern among the nations that have nuclear weapons about other nations obtaining them. There are international treaties that exist for the purpose of insuring that signatory nations do nothing that could result in the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The United States has bilateral treaties for civil use of nuclear power which include a clause about the enrichment of uranium into a concentrated form that would be suitable for use in a nuclear warhead. This issue has been in the news lately because of the fear that Iran may develop nuclear weapons.
The U.S. and the Middle Eastern nation of Jordan have been talking about nuclear cooperation for years. These discussion became especially relevant in 2011 when the Egyptian revolution led to the repeated destruction of the Sinai natural gas pipeline which had been Jordan's most consistent source of energy. In 2012, energy disruptions cost Jordan a twenty percent budget deficit. Since then, Jordan has been very interested in nuclear power. They would like to see the construction of two one gigawatt nuclear power plants. They have express the intent to be getting at least thirty percent of their electricity from nuclear reactors by 2030.
Jordan insists that it has the right to enrich uranium but the U.S. wants them to forego that right in return for U.S. cooperation in the Jordanian nuclear program. Jordan has no oil but they do have deposits of uranium that may contain as much as thirty five thousand tons. This could provide Jordan with all the electricity that it needs for a hundred years. Jordan also has plans to mine and sell uranium on the world market.
One of the planned reactor sites is in the Jordan River Valley which contains a major earthquake fault line. Israel raised concerns about this site with Jordanian officials in a meeting in 2009. It is ironic that the Jordanians at the meeting pointed out that Japan has a lot of earthquakes but that it has been able to build and safely operate fifty nuclear reactors. Two year later, the Fukushima disaster called into question the wisdom of locating nuclear reactors near fault lines.
One of Jordan's propose nuclear plant sites is in the tribal lands of the Bani Sakr, Jordan's largest tribe. A member of the Jordanian Parliament is from that tribe and a staunch opponent of nuclear power. One of the questions that she raises has to do with the availability of huge amounts of cooling water for the propose nuclear plant. Jordan has serious problems with accessing sufficient water. She also questioned whether or not Jordan has enough nuclear technicians to safely operate such a plant. The cost of the plant is another issue of contention with the ten billion dollar estimated cost almost equal to the entire annual budget of Jordan.
Supporters of Jordanian nuclear power dismiss concerns over water. They say that they will use waste water from a nearby waste treatment plant for one site. Another proposed site could get water from the Red Sea after it had been pumped to the site and desalinated. A research reactor is being built by a Korean consortium and Jordanian university programs will provide nuclear technicians. With respect to finances, Russia, the country that is going to build the Jordanian reactors, will provide funds for a forty nine point nine percent share.
The geopolitical situation in Jordan will play a role in their ultimate decision of whether or not to actually build the proposed nuclear reactors. In spite of their desperate need for power, Jordan has serious financial problems. Refugees from the conflict in Syria are flooding into Jordan. In addition, there is a concern that if the Syrian conflict spills over into Jordan, there could be serious dangers of intentional or accidental destruction of nuclear power plants endangering the Jordanian people. Jordan should invest in solar power and forget about nuclear power.
Artist's concept of Jordanian research reactor:
