AMMAN, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) and Russia's state-owned Rosatom Overseas signed a deal Saturday to conduct a joint feasibility study for building a Russian-designed Small Modular Reactor in Jordan (SMRs).
Building on the cooperation and studies performed for a large nuclear power plant, Russia and Jordan have decided to intensify and step up their cooperation in building SMRs, Khaled Toukan, chairman of the JAEC, said in a statement.
"We have been cooperating with Rosatom for many years, and we are going to build on this cooperation in various spheres. Today, a potential project to construct SMR-type NPP (nuclear power plant) seems more relevant and more needed, so we would like to focus on it," Toukan said.
Evgeny Pakermanov, president of Rosatom Overseas, said the Russian group and Jordan decided to focus cooperation on enhancing SMR technology projects based on Rosatom's innovative solutions.
"The SMR technologies will certainly become one of our top priorities on the way to develop the world energy market," he said in the statement.
Apart from its modular composition, one of the main advantages of the Russian-designed SMR plant is it could be used as a desalination and heating plant, according to the statement.
Jordan is looking forward to benefiting from all the available technologies in order to meet its energy needs. In 2015, Jordan signed an agreement with Russia for building a nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatt, at a cost of 10 billion U.S. dollars.
Russia and Jordan are cooperating closely in the human resource development area, to implement the nuclear project in Jordan.
Currently, 100 Jordanian students are studying in related programs in major Russian universities, according to JAEC.
