State nuclear corporation Rosatom was picked on Monday as the preferred candidate to build Jordan's first nuclear power plant, expected to cost $10 billion and supply 12 percent of the kingdom's energy needs by 2020.
Rosatom will build the plant in the Amra region, 60 kilometers east of the eastern Zarqa city, said Khaled Toukan, who heads the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, Jordanian news agency Petra reported.
Toukan said the Russian company's offer was that a Rosatom subsidiary — nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly Atomstroyexport — would supply the nuclear technology under which the 1,000-megawatt reactor would be built, and that another subsidiary, Rusatom Overseas, would be a strategic partner and plant operator.
Agence France-Presse quoted Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Momani as saying the plant was expected to cost $10 billion. The report cited Toukan as saying the plant would have two 1,000-megawatt reactors.
According to the Petra agency, Toukan said Russia would cover 49 percent of the project's cost, while the Jordanian government would pay 51 percent. He added that the project's financing options were open and could be established under a build-own-operate deal.
