The United States supports France's plans to build a reactor in Libya on condition that it is not at risk of proliferation, the State Department said Thursday.
"We support the peaceful use of nuclear energy and nuclear energy as an alternative to hydrocarbons. But you have to do it in such a way that you are not at risk of proliferation," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of France's nuclear deal with Libya.
"I expect ... that the French government would pay full attention to making sure that any safeguard will be implemented in any sort of deal," McCormack said.
"I would point out that the Libyan government voluntarily gave up it nuclear weapons programs. That is certainly a very positive step. With the appropriate safeguards, I think that you have to look at how Libya might benefit from peaceful nuclear energy," the spokesman added.
France and Libya signed on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a Libyan nuclear reactor for water desalination.
The agreement "aims to furnish Libya with a nuclear reactor that will provide a supply of drinking water" through desalination of sea water, French presidential aide Claude Gueant told reporters in Tripoli.
The United States renewed diplomatic relations with Libya in June 2004 following a 25-year rupture, after Kadhafi's announcement in December 2003 to give up attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction.
Source: Xinhua
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