The Iraqi government plans to build eight nuclear power plants with the help of Russia at a cost of $ 40 billion to overcome the challenge of electricity shortages in the country.
The Iraqi government is working to build eight Russian-built nuclear power plants at a cost of $ 40 billion to tackle the country’s power outage, which has led to tensions and protests.
The Times reported on the Iraq project that the Arab country had 8.4 percent of the world’s oil reserves, the world’s fifth-largest, but with dilapidated infrastructure, corruption, mismanagement, and high electricity consumption in the summer. For air conditioning, electricity has been cut off continuously in this country.
The British newspaper wrote that in December 2020, Iraq faced a sharp gap between supply and demand in the field of electricity, and this issue occurred when Iran reduced its gas exports to Iraq due to non-payment of its debts.
According to the Iraqi government, the demand for energy in this country will increase by about 50% by 2030.
In an interview with Bloomberg News, Kamal Hussein Latif, head of the Iraqi Agency for Radiological Resources, said that without nuclear energy, the country would be in “big trouble”.
The newspaper added that the power generation of the power plants that the Iraqi government intends to build is about 11 megawatts.
The Times writes that the project is expected to cost about $ 40 billion and that the Iraqi government is working to pay off the project through foreign partners who finance the project over a 20-year period, and is in talks with France and the United States. Russia and South Korea have done.
It is believed that nuclear energy will allow Iraq to produce and sell more oil, which is the country’s main source of income. Falling oil prices since last year have reduced the country’s revenues. Oil revenues account for 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and 99 percent of the country’s exports. Despite rising oil prices in recent months, Iraq is still struggling to fund itself.
