“We must secure oil and natural gas resources for coming generations,” Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younis declared this week. “This requires an efficient national nuclear program.”
In a speech delivered on his behalf at a recent ministry workshop devoted to discussing Egypt's nascent nuclear energy program, Younis said it was "imperative" that certain parts of Egypt’s first nuclear power station–expected to go on-line by 2013–be produced locally in order to encourage complementary industries.
He also noted that the government had already chosen an international consulting firm to build the power station, select new sites, and provide technical assistance.
Former Nuclear Authority president Abdel Hamid Zahran, however, recently complained that the project was “going very slowly.”
“Officials must act quickly, given that it takes about ten years to build a nuclear power plant,” said Zahran.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
