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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Post-Saddam Iraq gets back to thinking nuclear

BAGHDAD — Six years after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraq's new government is making plans to resume its nuclear energy project.   

Officials said the Baghdad government has approved plans to acquire a nuclear energy reactor. They said the Iraqi Electricity Ministry has been briefed by a range of prospective contractors, but appeared to favor France.

"I am willing to enter into contacts with the French nuclear agency and to start to build a nuclear power plant, because the future is nuclear," Iraq Electricity Minister Karim Wahid said.

In an interview with Agence France Presse on Feb. 22, Wahid did not elaborate on Iraq's nuclear energy plans. In 1976, Iraq signed an agreement with France to build the Osirak nuclear reactor. In 1981, Israel, concluding that this would be used to develop nuclear weapons, destroyed Osirak.

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France has been discussing a nuclear energy project in Iraq, officials said. They said Baghdad has assured Paris and other prospective contractors that any nuclear project would come under inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"My coming here is to tell French companies: the time has come, come and invest," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said during his first visit to Baghdad on Feb. 10. "We are ready to listen to the requests of the Iraqis."

Sarkozy said a French business delegation would arrive in Baghdad in mid-2009. The president said the delegation would discuss opportunities in defense and energy.

Since the fall of Saddam in 2003, Baghdad has renewed cooperation with IAEA. In 2008, Iraq sold partially processed uranium ore, known as yellowcake, Canada's Cameco.



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