AMMAN - US and Jordanian energy officials will this week inaugurate a project designed to boost the Kingdom's nuclear security.
Thursday marks the completion of the Mega-Ports Project, an initiative supported by the US Department of Energy, which has increased the number and quality of radiation monitoring stations across the country.
At a ceremony in Aqaba on Thursday, the project will be transferred to Jordan, to be run and operated by the Jordan Nuclear Regulatory Commission (JNRC) and other local stakeholders, according to the JNRC.
The Mega-Ports Project, which entailed improving monitoring technology and training of JNRC staff, aims to boost monitoring capabilities at entry points across the country, including the Jordan-Syria Free Zone and the Aqaba Port as well as the Jaber and Karama border crossings.
The new monitoring equipment is expected to increase inspections and detection of radioactive materials at the country's border crossings, some of which receive up to 8,000 trucks per day, according to the commission.
With the new radiation monitoring stations, which will be connected to an information-sharing network, officials will be able to examine all inbound and outbound containers for radioactive and nuclear materials regardless of whether they are carrying cargo or not.
Officials from the US Department of Energy, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, the Public Security Department and the Civil Defence Department will attend Thursday's event.
The project comes ahead of major upcoming developments in the Kingdom's peaceful nuclear programme, such as the subcritical assembly of the nuclear research reactor in Irbid and uranium mining, both expected to commence in 2012.
The country's peaceful nuclear power programme calls for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Jordan, a 1,000 megawatt reactor, within the next decade.
By Taylor Luck
© Jordan Times 2010
