August 22, 2010 (Khartoum) — Sudan is planning to build a nuclear reactor for electricity purpose, Sudan’s state run media SUNA reports.
“The government had begun to plan in early 2010 to develop nuclear energy”, Mohamed Ahmed Hassan el-Tayeb, director-general of the Sudanese Atomic Energy Agency, was quoted by SUNA as saying.
The director of SAEA said that officials from IAEA are expected to arrive in Sudan this week for further discussion.
SUNA said that Sudan will build its first nuclear power plant by 2010 with assistance from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"The Ministry of Electricity and Dams has already started preparing for the project to produce power from nuclear energy in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and is expected to build the first nuclear power plant in the year 2020," SUNA reported.
Iran is thought to be helping the Sudanese government build its first nuclear power plant.
However, some global experts on security believe that Iran may be using Sudan as a “scapegoat” to funnel weapons to Iran-sponsored terrorist organizations in Africa and the Middle East.
In May, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, was accused of operating a secret weapons factory in Sudan. But Sudan dismissed the charges as a “smear tactic” by the west.
Sudan is a member of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 1958.