By Joshua Carroll
YANGON, Myanmar
Myanmar is planning to build nuclear reactors for research into health and agriculture, state media reported Monday.
The Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Ko Ko Oo, told Parliament’s Upper House that Myanmar is developing "human resources" for the nuclear sector, the state-run New Light of Myanmar reported.
It added that the government plans to build reactors when “the required infrastructure has been built.”
Ministers also want to draft non-proliferation laws and bring in measures to prevent radiation leaks before building the reactors, Dr Ko Ko Oo said Monday.
Myanmar’s government has long denied that it has ambitions to build nuclear weapons. It first announced plans to use nuclear technology for peaceful research and energy in late 2012.
In 2010 the Democratic Voice of Burma news site published allegations that Myanmar was secretly working with North Korea to develop nuclear missiles.
A former inspector from the International Atomic Energy Agency supported the claims. But other experts cast doubt on them, saying it was unlikely Myanmar was technically or financially able to develop nuclear weapons.
The former pariah state has won praise from Western governments after emerging from five decades of military dictatorship.
After a visit from U.S. President Barack Obama in 2012, Myanmar announced it would sign an agreement that gives nuclear inspectors greater access to its facilities.
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