Azerbaijan to build nuclear power plant?

BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 16 (UPI) -- Reports give conflicting information on whether Azerbaijan will build a nuclear power plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and Azerbaijani officials have said there likely will be no nuclear plants built in the country. However, there have been conflicting reports that the IAEA will help build the nation's first nuclear research reactor, local newspaper Ekho reported.

The director of the Azerbaijani Institute for Radiation Problems, Adil Qaribov, denied reports that Azerbaijan is planning to build two nuclear power plants, and an adviser of the IAEA, Samil Movsumov, said Azerbaijan does not have specialists who could carry out research in the nuclear energy sphere. Movsumov also expressed his concern that the reactor will be located in the vicinity of the capital, Baku, which is located in an earthquake-prone zone.

However, during an IAEA visit earlier this month, Qaribov said Azerbaijan and the IAEA had agreed on the construction of a $30 million nuclear research reactor.

Later, Qaribov said, "The construction of two nuclear power plants in Azerbaijan is out of the question. If we build one nuclear research reactor, this will be a big deal."

Qaribov said a feasibility study and materials for the construction of the reactor will be prepared in 2009-11, with construction of the reactor beginning in 2011-15.