Jordan and South Korea have signed a $70 million loan agreement to finance the kingdom's first nuclear research reactor.

	King Abdullah II of Jordan delivering a speech in Amman on June 8, 2010.
	Photo by: AP

The state-run Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute and Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. are expected to start building a 5-megawatt reactor November 1 at the Jordan University for Science and Technology near the northern city of Irbid.

A planning ministry statement said Monday the reactor will be "fully commissioned within five years and a nuclear power plant will be built by 2017."

Resource-barren Jordan is developing a peaceful nuclear program with U.S. support. But the U.S. has expressed reservations over Jordan's desire to enrich its large reserves of uranium.

Jordan says alternative energy sources are needed to generate electricity and desalinate water.

Last month, Jordan's King Abdullah accused Israel of trying to prevent his kingdom from developing a peaceful nuclear program.

The king revealed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that Israel had approached South Korea and France with requests to refrain from selling Jordan nuclear technology. Israel's "underhanded" actions are adding tension to already strained relations with Jordan, bringing ties between the two countries to their lowest point since they signed a peace agreement in 1994, the king said.

"There are countries, Israel in particular," Abdullah told the Wall Street Journal, "that are more worried about us being economically independent than the issue of nuclear energy, and have been voicing their concerns."

"There are many such reactors in the world and a lot more coming, so [the Israelis must] go mind their own business," he added.

Israeli officials denied any action to prevent Jordan from developing nuclear energy.