Iraq Forms Committee Tasked with Building Nuclear Reactor

By Staff, Agencies

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered a committee formed tasked to build a nuclear plant for research purposes, the Iraqi Commission for Control of Radioactive Sources announced Thursday.

The commission’s president, Kamal Hussein Latif, told the Iraqi News Agency that al-Kadhimi had declared the formation following a summit with his French President Emmanuel Macron earlier in September.

Al-Kadhimi said they discussed a “future project” to produce nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, while Macron asserted the importance of Iraq's sovereignty.

“Iraq is looking forward to restoring its place in nuclear science, which it occupied in the ‘70s and ‘80s of the past century,” Latif said, “supported by the wishes of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

He also said a UN “Security Council resolution supporting the project for Iraq's resurgence in the nuclear field and its beneficial peaceful applications.”

“Nuclear energy is an issue of the utmost national importance that can benefit the future of Iraq for generations,” Latif said.

This could solve the country's ongoing energy crisis, the committee’s president said. Iraq has suffered crippling electrical shortages in recent months that have brought protesters out en masse.

A nuclear plant will take five years to build, according to his assessments, and will have pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial applications.

“The nuclear issue is a national issue of utmost importance that can benefit the future of Iraq for generations.”