Tuesday October 10, 2006

Egypt will go nuclear

english.ohmynews.com :

On Sept. 19, Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak, announced that his country will pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 3 days later, President Mubarak confirmed the decision. Hassan Yunes, the electricity minister, laid out a plan that would provide Egypt with 1,000MW of nuclear power over the next decade. Egypt relies entirely on hydrocarbons for its electricity production. As Egyptians buy oil at the subsidized price of $0.23 a liter, the government loses billions per year. Thus the nuclear alternative makes good economic sense.

Considering Israel's nuclear arsenal, Iran's suspected nuclear military program, rumors of Saudi Arabia buying nukes from Pakistan and Turkey's decision to acquire "nuclear plants" by 2012, it is hardly surprising that Egypt has decided to join the nuclear race. In the opinion of top Egyptian officials, the choice ahead is rather simple: either Israel gives up its nukes or the Arab nations will become nuclear powers - the former being unlikely, the later seemingly unavoidable. In Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the Sunni-Muslims feel a common need to deter the threat of a Shiite atomic bomb.

Egypt is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed in 1968, and ratified in 1981. Many analysts have wondered how the Bush administration would respond to Mubarak's announcement. Last week, while visiting Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Egyptian media that the U.S. supported "the Egyptian initiative to acquire peaceful nuclear technologies."

- This news article makes for some rather odd reading. Is Egypt going nuclear as in generating electricity, or is it going nuclear as in building an atomic bomb? Or perhaps both? Why is the U.S. seeming to support Egypt's nuclear drive while going all out against Iran's efforts? And, do you see a developing story arc here? The Arabs are going nuclear. ALL of them, apparently!

See also :

1. UAE to focus on alternative and renewable sources of energy
2. OPEC calls for green solutions to reduce emissions from oil
3. Arabs urged to develop nuclear energy

(2006-10-10 12:34:55 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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