SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq is studying 20 potential sites for building nuclear reactors, according to the Iraqi Radioactive Sources Regulatory Authority.
Head of the Iraqi radioactive sources authority Kamal Hussein said the national committee for nuclear reactors was working to select five sites among the twenty for establishing nuclear reactors in Iraq.
“Globally approved scientific project methods will be used to reduce them to five sites,” Hussein said in a statement. “Then, two of them will be selected, one will be the origin and the other will be an alternative.”
In April, Hussein said the federal government was in talks with Russia, France and the U.S. to discuss the prospect of building three civilian nuclear reactors, according to state news agency INA.
He further said meetings with Russia had resulted in a memorandum of understanding on obtaining Rosatom’s participation in planning the scheme.
Regarding talks with France, Hussein said further meetings were to be held with French diplomats over the issue.
“Our French counterparts are eager to work with Iraq in the peaceful use of nuclear energy and we are waiting to obtain full approval before releasing more details on this cooperation. We are looking for common ground with our partners in this preliminary phase that precedes the bidding stage,” he said.
Iraq had requested a meeting with U.S. officials, but had not yet taken place, according to the Iraqi official.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had ordered the formation of a committee tasked to build a nuclear reactor for research purposes, according Hussein.
Hussein further said Kadhimi “is aware of the importance of the issue of atomic energy,” following discussions held with French President Emmanuel Macron in September.
Iraq had three nuclear reactors in Tuwaitha, its main nuclear research site, south of Baghdad. One was destroyed by an Israeli air raid, in 1981, and the two others by U.S. airplanes in the 1991 Gulf war which followed Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
