Yemeni cabinet cancels nuclear power agreement

Ahmed al-Anesi

The Yemeni government has cancelled a $15 billion agreement between the Ministry of Electricity and Energy and American-based Powered Corporation for establishing five nuclear reactors in Yemen.  The decision comes as a result of an intervention from the Supreme National Anti-Corruption Authority asking Prime Minister Mujawar to cancel the contract.

The SNACA called for the agreement to be cancelled after a request for documents regarding the deal was ignored by the Ministry of Electricity and Energy. Chairman of the investigation department at the SNACA, Ahmed al-Anesi expressed his surprise that the ministry had not provided all the documents regarding the deal.
 
Al-Anesi said that Prime Minister Mujawar confirmed the government’s commitment to following legislation and the political processes in a letter sent to the SNACA and said that experts would be involved in any future agreements to ensure that they were completely valid.  

In a previous statement the Ministry of Electricity and Energy indicated that if Powered Corporation were proven to be unfit to complete the project, the deal would be nullified.

Powered Corporation was scheduled to start a $3 million feasibility study during the first half of next year with co-financing from the Yemeni government. Minister of Electricity and Energy Dr. Mustafa Bahram said that he hoped work on a feasibility study would begin soon to select appropriate sites, and explore the technical and economic aspects of establishing a nuclear plant in Yemen.

The newly established SNACA has now completed building its internal structure and is beginning to deal with several corruption cases. 

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