Belgian company to study national grid’s capacity to absorb power generated from nuclear project

AMMAN — Efforts are under way to draft the final contracts to be signed with Belgium’s Tractebel that won tenders related to the country’s first nuclear power plant, according to Jordan Nuclear Power Company (JNPC) Director General Ahmad Hiasat.

The Belgian consultancy and engineering company was awarded a tender to conduct a study on the national power grid’s capacity and to receive the electricity that will be generated from the country’s first nuclear power plant, Hiasat told The Jordan Times recently.

Tractebel was awarded another contract to study the local market’s needs of electricity generated from the $10 billion plant and the possibility to export electricity produced by it, the JNPC director added.

Results of a third tender related to conducting an economic feasibility study of the entire project will be announced soon, he said.

Jordan is working on a project to build a two-reactor nuclear power plant. The first nuclear reactor is expected to start operating in 2024 or 2025, generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

In October 2013, Jordan contracted Russia’s Rosatom to build the Kingdom’s first two nuclear reactors.

The government will own 50.1 per cent of the project, while Russia’s Rosatom will own 49.9 per cent of the project.

Jordan has also reached a deal with Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation under which Russia will provide enriched nuclear fuel for the reactors for the first 10 years, after which Jordan has the option of buying nuclear fuel from Russia or any other market.