CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt's president announced plans Monday to build several nuclear power plants, the latest in a string of such ambitious proposals from moderate Arab countries.
The United States immediately welcomed the plan, in a sharp contrast to what it called nuclear "cheating" by Iran.
President Hosni Mubarak said the aim was to diversify Egypt's energy resources and preserve its oil and gas reserves for future generations. In a televised speech, he pledged that Egypt would work with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency at all times and would not seek a nuclear bomb.
But Mubarak also made clear there were strategic reasons for the program, calling secure sources of energy "an integral part of Egypt's national security system."
For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Subscribers can read the story here on ArkansasOnline.