GCC, IAEA agree to study nuclear power

VIENNA, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Persian Gulf states meeting in Vienna said they would work with international regulators on a new nuclear program it pledged would be for energy not weapons.

The Gulf Cooperating Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency have been meeting on the proposed program and Thursday a top GCC official said the two will conduct a feasibility study.

"We agreed that a team of agency experts and 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," Abdullah Hamad Al Attiyah, GCC secretary general and Qatari deputy prime minister and energy minister, told Al Jazeera.

The GCC is made up of Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait.

Last year the group decided to explore nuclear power as an option for meeting increased energy demand. The Gulf Daily News reports it also may be a power play against Iran, which is moving forward on a nuclear program it claims is for energy purposes but a U.S.-led coalition claims is for weapons.

Attiyah talked to the press after meeting with Mohammed ElBaradei, the IAEA's chief.

"We are not competing with any party, be it Iran or others," he said, insisting the GCC nuclear program would be for energy and water desalination only.