Dec. 22--AMMAN -- The government is examining a location near Aqaba for the establishment of the Kingdom's first nuclear power plant, expected to be built within eight years, with plans in place for further reactors, a senior official said on Sunday.

"We are currently looking at the region outside of ASEZA in order to use seawater for cooling requirements," Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Chairman Khaled Toukan told The Jordan Times yesterday, adding that a tender will be floated this week inviting 10 international firms to carry out site studies in order to determine the most suitable location for the reactor.

According to Toukan, the commission's preferred location is within the Aqaba Governorate, 8km east of the Gulf coast, a site that will have the potential to house four individual power plants and will be under study for the next 18 months.

The tender for the construction of the plant, slated to produce between 750-1,100MW, is expected to be floated in mid-2010, with initial construction work due to commence in 2012.

Although the tender will be open to a variety of international companies, the commission is looking solely at Generation III reactors, the most advanced nuclear technology with the latest active and passive safety features currently available, Toukan said.

These include the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) technique currently used in Japan, the AP1000 pressure water reactor produced by US company Westinghouse, the Advanced CANDU Reactors manufactured by Canada, French pressurised water reactor technology, the Russian light water reactor and methods applied by South Korea's Korea Electric Power Corporation.

Under the JAEC strategy and timelines set by foreign companies, the Kingdom's first nuclear power plant will be operational within eight years, according to Toukan.

The commission is already going ahead with plans for a second plant, which would potentially be linked to the Red Sea-Dead Sea water conveyance programme.

"We are looking at three projects working in tandem, which is water desalination, the Red-Dead canal and electricity generation," he said, noting that under preliminary plans, the second plant will provide pumping power for the canal in addition to water desalinisation for the entire southern region.