Kuwait Eyes Nuclear Power With French Help

Nuclear power would `save a lot of wasted fuel in electricity and water desalination plants`, he said, giving no more details.

Kuwait is considering developing nuclear power with the help of a French firm to meet demand for electricity and water desalination, a Kuwaiti newspaper quoted the country's ruler as saying on Wednesday.

"A French firm is studying the issue," daily al-Watan quoted Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah as saying, adding that the oil-rich Gulf state would only put nuclear power to civilian use and according to international laws.

Nuclear power would "save a lot of wasted fuel in electricity and water desalination plants", he said, giving no more details.

The comments come after French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the Gulf Arab state last week and a month after the United States signed a nuclear cooperation deal with the nearby United Arab Emirates.

Iran, just across the Gulf from Kuwait, is facing international pressure to halt a nuclear enrichment programme it says is purely civilian but which the United States believes is aimed at developing an atom bomb.

Rising demand for power has prompted the six U.S.-allied Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council to consider nuclear power, raising the spectre of a regional arms race with non-Arab Iran.

The UAE has already signed nuclear cooperation deals with France and the United States, and pledged to work with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.

France's Total, Suez and state nuclear reactor maker Areva have said they will develop two third-generation nuclear reactors in the UAE with a possible start date of 2016. Kuwait, a major OPEC oil exporter, is facing rising energy demands and has experienced power cuts in the past, especially during the hot summer months when air conditioning use soars.

It has said it is also building facilities to import liquefied natural gas from Qatar beginning in 2009 and is also considering importing gas from Iraq and Iran.

Kuwait has six power stations that also desalinate water.