Jordan, China sign nuclear protocol

China on Monday signed a protocol with Jordan to help the tiny desert kingdom produce nuclear power to meet its growing energy needs and desalinate water, a senior official said.

"China is going to assist Jordan in mining and enriching uranium as well as training and studies related to building a nuclear station," Khaled Tukan, head of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, told the state-run Petra news agency.

The two countries signed a preliminary nuclear cooperation deal in August.

Jordan, which imports around 95 percent of its energy needs, is one of the most water-deprived countries in the world.

The country's 1.2 billion tonnes of phosphate reserves are estimated to contain 130,000 tonnes of uranium and the government intends to start mining the radioactive ore to fuel its first nuclear plant.

It wants the plant to be on line by 2015 and the reactor is targeted to supply 30 percent of Jordan's energy production by 2030.

The kingdom is the latest Sunni Arab state to announce nuclear plans in the light of Shi'ite Iran's contested atomic drive, following in the footsteps of Egypt and Arab countries in the Gulf.

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