TUNIS, Tunisia, May 4 (UPI) -- Nuclear technology fever is apparently sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, as Tunisia has said it is considering the construction of a nuclear plant.
Minister of Scientific Research and Technology al-Tayeb Hazri said Thursday his government is seriously studying the possibility of setting up a nuclear plant to produce electricity.
Speaking before parliament during a debate of the basic by-laws of the Arab Agency for Nuclear Energy, Hazri said several studies have been conducted in the past to determine the feasibility of building such a plant.
His ministry is currently focusing on studying the location and financing of the plant that would produce 600 megawatts of nuclear energy at a cost of $1.14 billion, Hazri said.
The minister pointed out that the period between the start of construction and actual production will be at least 10 years.
He also stressed that several industrial and agricultural projects in Tunisia depend on nuclear energy, including pasteurizing food items and desalinating sea water.
