From UPI via EnergyDaily:
Deals to build nuclear power plants in Yemen and Jordan have come sooner than many expected, but a lack of funding and internal violence could derail those plans before they ever get off the ground.
Many countries in the Middle East are considering nuclear power, hoping to free up petroleum reserves for export, and also to balance Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Among others, regional heavyweights Egypt, Saudi Arabia, as well as the other Gulf Cooperation Council countries -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- have expressed interest in nuclear power. But building nuclear power plants is an expensive proposition, and not all countries can afford the costs.
The government of Yemen is planning to build five nuclear power plants over 10 years, according to news reports from Sanaa. Work would start in 2009, and they would supply a total of 5,000 megawatts to the country, at an estimated cost of $15 billion.
Such spending seems unlikely in a country the World Bank described as "one of the least developed countries in the world." Currently Yemen produces about 1,000 megawatts of electricity, but faced with chronic shortages, it has plans for several gas-fired power plants that would provide between 340 and 3,800 megawatts, according to the Energy Information Administration, the data arm of the U.S. Department of Energy....MORE
Very oddly, when I hit the E in MORE it came up a T. Hmmm.
