4 Decades After Its First Failure; Will Iraq Enter the Nuclear Race Again?

A Spanish newspaper highlighted Iraq's announcement of its aspirations to build 8 reactors, with foreign funding, in response to the 50 percent increase in demand, expected by the end of this decade.

El Mundo said: “Iraq is the second largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC); however, this did not prevent it from suffering from serious problems in energy supplies.”

The decline in the price of oil, the old and poor maintenance of power plants, and the sanctions imposed on Iran—which impeded the import of its gas, which is essential to keeping the country connected to electricity—have caused periodic blackouts and attempts by the people to protest, and under these circumstances, Nuclear energy has became the solution that Baghdad is considering.

Baghdad’s Intentions

The newspaper pointed out that summer arriving only leads to an increase in electricity consumption, with temperatures already exceeding 40 degrees celsius in most parts of the country.

The head of the Iraqi Radioactive Sources Regulatory Authority, Kamal Hussein Latif, told media outlets that Baghdad wants to build 8 reactors capable of producing about 11 gigawatts.

Latif explains that his country needs to respond to the 50 percent increase in demand forecasts by the end of this decade.

The newspaper reported that “the most complicated matter lies in solving the financing of a project of this size, in a country rich in resources, whose profits are poorly distributed, in light of the rampant corruption in the country.”

It should be noted that the Iraqi authorities want to obtain financing from their partners, about 33 billion euros, and they can recover the investment within 20 years.

Latif pointed to two countries with which he had previously discussed his project, namely Russia and South Korea, both of which are capable of deploying nuclear facilities in the country.

The newspaper noted that the announcement of Baghdad’s intentions, paradoxically, came in the same week that coincides with the passage of four decades since Israel removed the atomic aspirations of the late President Saddam Hussein at the time.

Specifically, in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war, and only one year after Iranian aviation tried to destroy the Osirak reactor—which France was building—without success, Israel launched “Operation Opera” (also known as Operation Babylon), and was thus able to demolish the facility on the pretext that it could manufacture nuclear weapons, which is what Paris and Baghdad denied.

 

Low Price

The newspaper quoted Latif justifying his decision, saying: “Some of our predictions show that without nuclear energy, we will have a serious problem by 2030.”

He also stated that his country is “striving to reduce polluting emissions and develop water desalination processes to provide drinking water.”

However, the biggest problem for Iraq remains the budget gaps as a result of the sharp drop in oil prices that it has suffered as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

It should be noted that only recently oil prices recorded some kind of recovery.

The newspaper pointed out that “Iraq's plans highlight two crucial issues: namely, nuclear security and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, in a region where only Israel possesses atomic weapons and nuclear power plants.”

For its part, Iran maintains the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and its uranium enrichment program, at rates much higher than the levels of civilian use, in response to US sanctions, despite Tehran’s emphasis on its peaceful use, in the face of Israeli criticism that it claims is not.

In this setting, a “secret war” between Iran and Israel is shaking Iran’s nuclear program.

On June 23, 2021, Tehran announced a “technical failure” at Bushehr, forcing the station to close for a few days.

The Iranian authorities announced that they had prevented a “sabotage attack” targeting a nuclear centrifuge production center near the capital, which raised new suspicions about Israeli interference. For its part, Saudi Arabia has also taken steps towards obtaining nuclear resources.

Riddance of Dependency

El Mundo also reported that Iraq has other goals behind the development of its nuclear program, which are to getting rid of Iran’s energy dependence. Specifically, Baghdad is seeking to end gas imports from the country that has benefited from these and other trade relations to increase its influence in the Iraqi government.

In early June 2021, the Iranians and Iraqis reached a preliminary agreement regarding debt repayment, after a meeting between the energy ministers of the two countries.

The Iranians explained that part of the amount will be used to purchase Russian COVID-19 vaccines, a possible reason that explains the American permission to facilitate the transfer of funds.

The Iranian authorities have also made it clear that these developments will allow the resumption of the transfer of gas and electricity to Iraq, but at the same time, their government is considering nuclear energy so that the same mistakes are not repeated.

With nuclear energy in the middle of the energy debate in the European Union, it has been left out of many member countries, including Spain. But in many parts of the world it has turned into a prominent future plan for energy, and in this sense, nuclear power plants have been planned to be built in Russia and other countries in Asia.

The Czech Republic and Finland are also betting on nuclear energy at the moment, and these countries see “this energy as a predictable and stable support for renewable energy sources.”

Other Spanish articles have indicated that France has switched to nuclear power more than any other country in the world in recent decades, and there are currently 56 power plants in operation and one under construction.

In 2019, nuclear power covered nearly 71 percent of its electricity needs.

In turn, the world’s largest producer of nuclear energy, the state-owned EDF Group, is now in debt at 42 billion euros and must invest about 100 billion between now and 2030 to continue operating the old reactors.

The Spanish newspaper concluded its report by saying: “It has not yet been decided whether new nuclear reactors will be built in France, but this decision has been postponed and will be taken by the new Paris government after the upcoming elections in 2022.”