Jordan’s first nuclear plant is expected to be operational by 2024-25, state-owned Jordan News Agency reported.

Ahmed Hiyasat, director general of the Jordan Nuclear Power Company, said the company and the Jordan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) are “cooperating with a consultative company to prepare detailed studies of the site and the environmental impact of the nuclear plant.”

The studies will be presented to the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), the Ministry of Environment and then to the local community for approval, it was reported.

The project entails building two nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts (MW) at a total cost of JD7 billion ($9.87 billion), he added. The plant is expected to be built at the Qusayr Amra region, east of Amman.

Jordan last year signed an inter-governmental agreement with Russia to build and operate its first nuclear power plant.

JAEC Chairman Khaled Toukan and Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia’s state-run nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, signed the agreement on behalf of the respective governments.

As per the contract, Rosatom will build the kingdom’s first two nuclear reactors. Jordan will cover 50.1% of the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) contract, while Rosatom will cover 49.9% as investor and operator of the nuclear plants.