Gulf Arabs, IAEA to cooperate on nuclear study http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL2263042920070222
Thu Feb 22, 2007
DUBAI (Reuters) - Gulf Arab states and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have agreed to cooperate on a feasibility study on regional plans for a nuclear energy program, a senior Gulf official said on Thursday.
"We agreed that a team of agency experts and (other) experts in the fields of nuclear power and electrical planning ... will draw up the general framework and the terms of reference of such a study," Abdul-Rahman al-Attiya, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), told Al Jazeera television.
Attiya was speaking after meeting Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, in Vienna.
The GCC, which groups Arab countries in the world's top oil and gas exporting region, said in December it had decided to set up a joint civil atomic program, raising concerns the Arab states may want to protect themselves if Iran acquires nuclear weapons and sparking fears of a regional arms race.
Attiya said Gulf Arab plans were aimed at water desalination and power generation, and not linked to Iran's controversial nuclear program. "We are not competing with any party, be it Iran or others," he said.
Attiya said GCC countries -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman -- had to look for alternative sources of power as demand for electricity was rising 6 percent a year in the region.
The IAEA said on Thursday Iran had failed to meet a February 21 deadline to suspend enrichment of uranium, exposing Tehran to possible new sanctions over concerns it hopes to produce an atomic bomb. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in December she wanted to know more about the Gulf states' plans to study nuclear power and questioned why Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, might need atomic energy.
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