Jordan nuke deal depends on pact (Japan Times)

Jordan nuke deal depends on pact
Kyodo

AMMAN — A Japan-France engineering consortium bidding for Jordan's atomic power plant project has little chance of winning if the Diet doesn't approve a bilateral nuclear cooperation pact by the end of this year, Jordan's energy and mineral resources minister said.

Jordan will not be able to award construction of its first nuclear plant to the alliance of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and France's Areva SA over two competing bidders from Russia and Canada without a ratified agreement, energy minister Khaled Touqan said Sunday.

Jordan and Japan signed a nuclear cooperation pact last year, but the ratification of the Japanese side has been postponed since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which triggered the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant...

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