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Russia has agreed to provide nuclear know-how and technical expertise to Egypt to help Cairo with plans to build civilian nuclear power stations to meet growing energy needs, Egyptian state media said on Tuesday. State news agency MENA said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak had told Egypt that Moscow welcomed the planned resumption of Egypt's nuclear program. "Moscow is ready to give nuclear knowledge and its technical expertise to the Egyptian side in light of Russia's large experience in building nuclear power stations," MENA said, quoting a foreign ministry spokesman. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said last month Egypt would build several nuclear power stations, a year after his politician son Gamal floated the idea of a civilian nuclear program, but did not indicate when the project would get under way. Cairo suspended a peaceful nuclear program after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies said the first 1,000-megawatt reactor could be built at Dabaa on the Mediterranean in eight to 10 years if foreign investment was secured. Washington has said it supports Egypt's plans to develop peaceful nuclear energy. In addition to Russia, China and Kazakhstan have offered cooperation. Officials put Egypt's oil and gas reserves at 15.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, enough for 34 years at current production rates. The elder Mubarak has said rising oil prices would nudge the government's energy subsidies to around 50 billion Egyptian pounds ($9 billion) in the current fiscal year starting in July from 43.8 billion pounds in the previous year. Egypt ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1981 and has two research reactors. The UN International Atomic Energy Agency probed Egyptian "failures" in reporting nuclear research in 2004, but concluded that the experiments were not weapons-related. Gamal Mubarak's initial proposal had been greeted with skepticism by opposition groups, which dismissed his announcement as a media stunt designed to bolster his credentials. The 79-year-old president, in power since 1981, is widely believed to be preparing Gamal, a senior ruling party official, to succeed him. Both father and son deny this.As in the days of Noah...
