KUWAIT CITY, March 27. /TASS/. Jordan chose Russian nuclear reactors for its nuclear power plant because of their technical reliability and efficiency, chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission Khaled Toukan told Al-Arabiya TV channel on Friday.
"A decision on accepting Russia’s proposal was based on two advantages over competitors — reliability of nuclear reactors and efficiency of the project," Toukan said.
Russian nuclear reactors are technically reliable, which is "proved by the experience of India, Belarus and other countries," he added.
Russian project requires 15% less investment and will generate 10% more electricity that plans suggested by France and Japan, Toukan said.
Jordan and Russia on March 24 signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Jordan. The document was signed by chief of Russia’s state-run corporation Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko and Jordan Atomic Energy Commission Chariman Khaled Toukan. Apart from that, according to Kiriyenko, Rosatom undertook to attract joint financing for the project.
Russia’s Rosatom won a tender for the construction of a nuclear plant in Jordan in November 2013, having outstripped the Japanese-French consortium Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — Areva.
In late September, the two countries signed a pre-investment agreement on the project. Overall investments in the construction of a nuclear plant in Jordan are estimated at $10 billion.
The sides are now looking at setting up a joint venture to implement this project. Jordan is supposed to hold a 51% stake, and Rosatom (or its subsidiary) — a 49% stake. Rosatom is using such financing scheme in the Finnish project Hanhikivi-1 NPP, where it holds 34% of shares.
The would-be nuclear plant will satisfy Jordan’s entire electricity demand and give a possibility to export electricity to other countries — Syria and Iraq. The nuclear plant will have two power units with a capacity of 1,000 megawatt each. The first unit is to be commissioned in 2024, and the second one — in 2026.
This project is seen as the biggest one in the entire history of Russia-Jordan relations.