Jordan's environmental group said it is irresponsible not to include their experts on the committee entrusted with finding a suitable location for the kingdom's first nuclear reactor, local daily The Jordan Times reported on Thursday.
"This is a very serious issue that deals with the lives of millions of people, but the commission decided to do without civil society when appointing members of the committee," Ahmad Kofahi, executive director of Jordan Environment Society, said on Wednesday.
Officials from the Jordan Nuclear Energy Commission (JNEC) are currently mapping out areas to find a suitable location to construct the nuclear reactor, which they hope will provide Jordan with more than 30 percent of its electricity needs by 2016.
"Jordan is a small country and any nuclear problem will harm the entire population, unless the right decision is made," Kofahi warned.
"Choosing a place for a nuclear reactor is a very complicated process because we must study the impact on the environment surrounding the area, and this needs specialists," he added.
Yet according to JNEC nuclear fuel cycle commissioner Ned Xoubi, the project will be environmentally safe.
Xoubi added that the nuclear power plant "will not have any adverse effect on the environment", noting that many nuclear power plants are built on the shores of lakes and rivers across world.
Jordan's demand for electricity is expected to reach approximately 4,000 megawatts by 2020.
The JNEC President Khalid Touqan said earlier this year that Jordan's nuclear program is expected to transform the kingdom into an energy exporter by 2030.
Source:Xinhua
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