PARIS : Israel and Syria are separately eyeing plans to develop nuclear power to meet the energy needs of the volatile Middle East, ministers told a conference hosted by France on Tuesday to promote reactors.
Israel unveiled hopeful plans to work with its Arab neighbours to build a joint nuclear plant in a project that the country's infrastructure minister said would serve the entire region and advance peace.
"Nuclear energy can be an area of regional cooperation with the objective of promoting peace," Uzi Landau told the Paris conference.
Syria, which has been investigated by the UN nuclear watchdog over its alleged attempt to build a secret nuclear reactor, also said it would like to develop atomic energy.
Damascus needs "to consider alternative sources of energy, including nuclear energy," said Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened the conference on Monday with a call for many more countries to adopt nuclear power to produce electricity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ease pressure on energy prices.
Israel has already chosen a site for the nuclear reactor -- its first to be put to civilian energy use -- in the northern part of the Negev desert, said Israeli minister Landau.
Israel has two nuclear reactors, one near the southeast city of Dimona that is widely believed to be used to produce atomic weapons, and a second research reactor at Nahal Soreq near Tel Aviv.
The Jewish state is widely reported to have nuclear weapons but refuses to confirm or deny this, pursuing a policy of "nuclear ambiguity."
Israeli officials said Monday the new plant would be a joint project between Israel and Jordan -- one of only two Arab countries to have signed a peace deal with Israel -- and that France would supervise and provide technology.
"Naturally any nuclear power plant to be built in Israel will be subject to all the international safeguards," said Landau.
But Syria's bid to join the nuclear club will cause more international concern, given the regime's close ties with Iran and the still unanswered questions over an earlier alleged attempt to build a reactor in secret.
The International Atomic Energy Agency complained last year that Damascus had refused to cooperate with its investigation of a remote desert site called Dair Alzour, which was bombed by Israel in September 2007.
Inspectors have found unexplained traces of uranium at the site, as well as at a nuclear research reactor in Damascus, amid reports that Syria has been working with Tehran and North Korea on covert nuclear programmes.
France is now spearheading moves to bring Syria out of diplomatic isolation and persuade it to distance itself from Tehran's Islamic regime, which western powers believe is trying to develop and build a nuclear weapon.
"We appreciate the position of President Sarkozy that the peaceful application of nuclear energy should not be monopolised by the few who own this technology but that it should be available equally to all countries," said Mekdad.
Israel, which has a severe power shortage, is an arid country with no option of hydroelectric generation and no oil, and the government faces opposition to building more coal-fired electricity plants.
"Israel is an energy island so to speak. It has to import all its energy resources in order to provide its energy needs," said Landau.
Israel is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has said it will not sign up for a Middle East nuclear-free zone being promoted by the United States.
The Israeli government has also repeatedly accused Iran of plotting to become a "nuclear superpower" with covert activities in atomic energy, a claim Tehran has rejected.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2010
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