Iraq reveals plans to build nuclear reactors for research purposes
The Iraqi Radioactive Sources Regulatory Authority (IRSRA) says Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has ordered the formation of a committee tasked with construction of nuclear reactors for research purposes.
The head of the IRSRA, Hussein Latif, told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that Kadhimi is “aware of the importance of the issue of atomic energy,” having discussed the matter in a recent meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this month.
Latif added that Iraq is “looking forward to restoring its position in nuclear science, which it assumed during the 1970s and 1980s,” emphasizing that the UN Security Council lately passed a resolution in support of Iraq’s renewed work on peaceful nuclear energy.
The reactors will be able to help produce medical isotopes and pharmaceuticals, in addition to having agricultural and industrial applications such as seed irradiation, nuclear insect sterilization for pest control, and the production of radioactive isotopes with various industrial benefits, the senior Iraqi nuclear official pointed out.
He estimated that the construction process for the reactors would take approximately five years.
Latif added that the project would provide training and work opportunities for Iraqis, help the oil-rich country move away from its dependency on fossil fuels for energy and solve Iraq’s electrical shortages.
“Nuclear energy is an issue of the utmost national importance that can benefit the future of Iraq for generations,” he concluded.
Iraq's previous nuclear power reactors were built during the rule of executed dictator Saddam Hussein in Tuwaitha nuclear research site located south of Baghdad. They were destroyed almost thirty years ago.
The Osirak reactor, which was under construction 17 kilometers southeast of the capital Baghdad, was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in 1981, and the other two were razed in US strikes during the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
The attack on the 40-megawatt light-water Osirak nuclear reactor was condemned by the UN Security Council Resolution 487, which noted that the site had been approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The Israeli regime is not a signatory to the Non-proliferation Treaty, and has refused to either confirm or deny the existence of nuclear weapons in its arsenal.
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