Jordan's King Abdullah II urged his government Sunday to speed up in implementing the country's nascent nuclear power program in a bid to cut energy imports, the official Petra news agency reported, according to AP. Following up on his January announcement of his intentions to develop a peaceful nuclear program, the king stressed the need for an alternative energy source to generate electricity and desalinate water in the face of the rising costs of imported energy. «This issue is one of the most important challenges Jordan faces requiring radical solutions in the long term,» King Abdullah told the first meeting of the recently formed Supreme Committee for Nuclear Energy Strategy. Minister for Scientific Research Khaled Toukan told the committee that «nuclear energy would constitute 30 percent of the total amount of energy produced in Jordan by 2030,» based on studies his ministry has conducted. «This would shift Jordan from being an energy importing country to an energy producing country in 2030 by providing power at reduced costs in the industry and service sectors to support economic growth,» Toukan said.
