JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel announced its interest in producing electricity from nuclear energy at a conference in Paris.
Syria announced the same intention at Tuesday’s conference hosted by France to promote nuclear reactors.
"Israel is interested in being part of the circle of countries producing electricity from nuclear energy," Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said at the conference, according to Haaretz.
"In a region like the Middle East, we can only depend on ourselves. Building a nuclear reactor to produce electricity will allow Israel to develop energy independence."
Israeli officials told the French news agency AFP that it had plans to build a new plant as a joint project with Jordan and supervised by France.
Israel has a policy of ambiguity on whether or not it has nuclear weapons. It is not a signatory to the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Israel has two nuclear facilities — a research reactor in Nahal Soreq and a reactor in Dimona.
