Jordan has signed a $10 billion deal with Russia on Tuesday to build the kingdom’s first nuclear power plant, with two 1,000-megawatt reactors in the country’s north, Reuters reports.
The energy-poor kingdom imports nearly 98 percent of its energy from oil products and crude and is struggling to meet electricity demand as its population rises and its industry expands.
Violence in neighboring Iraq and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has threatened and in many cases, completely cut off electricity supplies in Jordan.
The kingdom aims to attain energy sufficiency and hopes that nuclear power could eventually provide almost 40 percent of its total electricity generating capacity.
The deal, signed with Russia’s state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom, envisages the construction of a two-unit power plant by 2022.
In February, Moscow and Cairo signed a memorandum of understanding to construct Egypt’s first nuclear power plant during a visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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