More power cuts to come during the holy month of RamadanYemen goes ahead with nuclear reactor agreement [Archives:2007/1089/Local News]

By: Amel Al-Ariqi
SANA'A, Sept. 25 ) First nuclear reactor in Yemen should be ready to produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity by the end of 2012, stated Yemeni Electricity Minister Mustafa Bahran.

Bahran's statement came on Monday when the government signed an agreement with a US energy company to build nuclear power plants over the next 10 years to generate electricity.

Under the agreement, Houston-based Powered Corporation is set to build five nuclear reactors in Yemen that will generate 5,000 megawatts of energy.

“The overall cost of the project is estimated at 15 billion dollars,” Bahran told the press. Adding that the Powered Corporation will oversee efforts to secure the financing of the project.

Construction of the first reactor is expected to get underway in early 2009. According to the minister, who also stated that Yemeni government associated with the US firm together funded a three-million-dollar feasibility study and would be launched in the first half of 2008.

Bahran said that the project provides for desalinating sea water, and stressed that the nuclear power will be “economically competitive