Jordan, which plans to build its first nuclear reactor later this decade, said it expects to sign an agreement with Turkey on Thursday on cooperating to develop atomic energy, Hurriyet Daily News reported according to Bloomberg.
Jordan's Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Khalid Touqan will sign the accord with the head of the Turkish nuclear commission, the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
The Arab nation has already signed nuclear-cooperation agreements with 11 other countries, most recently with Italy on Monday.
The kingdom relies almost entirely on imported energy and is turning to nuclear power to meet increasing electricity demand. It plans to build reactors by 2019 and will choose a supplier of its first nuclear plant by April, Touqan said last year.
The Jordan Atomic Energy Commission pre-selected three reactor technologies last May, including those of Atomic Energy of Canada, Russia's ZAO Atomstroyexport and Paris-based Atmea, a 50-50 venture between France's Areva and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Jordan estimates it has 70,000 tons of uranium deposits and expects to produce 2,000 tons a year.
The country hopes to attract $14 billion in investments in energy infrastructure and develop more of its own resources, in part by developing renewable energy and oil shale. Jordan has
the world's fourth-largest reserves of oil shale, a sedimentary rock containing solid bituminous materials that are released as petroleum-like liquids when the rock is heated.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini signed a nuclear agreement with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh two days ago, Jordan's ministry said in the statement.