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Abu Dhabi: The Gulf states are expected to begin building a nuclear industry as a "sustainable and clean" source of power by 2009, a top official said yesterday.
The Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC], which comprises six countries, wants to harness nuclear energy to offset the depletion of oil and gas reserves, Abdullah Hamad Al Attiyah, the Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, told Gulf News in an interview here yesterday.
"Oil and gas reserves will be exhausted sooner or later; 70 or 100 years is a long time for us, but not for our nations," he said.
Al Attiyah said the GCC is currently conducting a wide-ranging study on the use of nuclear energy as a main source of power in the future.
"We will appoint an international consultancy firm, and within two years we will start our nuclear energy programmes if the GCC governments approve [the use of] it," said the Qatari minister.
Talks with IAEA
The plan to utilise nuclear energy was announced at the GCC Summit in Riyadh last year.
The announcement came as Iran continued to defy world pressure to give up its uranium enrichment programme.
The United States accuses Iran of pursuing a covert nuclear weapons programme, a charge Tehran denies.
On Sunday, Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah, Secretary-General of the GCC, was quoted as saying he would visit the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to discuss regional plans to pursue a nuclear energy programme.
The talks will be held in the third week of February. The Gulf plans are unlikely to include an enrichment process.
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