Jordan, Russia to sign nuclear reactor deal

 Jordan said on Friday that it will sign a deal with Russia next month to start studies on the country 's first nuclear reactor, the state-run Petra news agency reported.
Khald Toukan, chairman of Jordan's atomic energy commission, said the deal, which will be signed in Moscow, includes starting environmental assessment studies as well as studies on the financing and cost of the reactor.
The studies will be completed in two years, he added.
The two countries will also sign another agreement at the end of this year, in which they will support commitment to the project.
In October last year, the Jordanian government approved Russia' s Atomstroyexport, the country's leading nuclear power service exporter, as technology provider for the country's first nuclear reactor.
Under the deal, Atomstroyexport will provide the VVER1000-AES99 technology for the Jordanian nuclear reactor. The initial total cost of building the reactor, which will have two power plants, each with a 1,000-megawatt capacity, will hit 10 billion U.S. dollars.
Jordan import about 96 percent of its energy needs annually.