The White House on Monday said it had little information about Egypt's plans to relaunch its nuclear power program but declared itself "generally supportive" of civilian atomic power.
"I don't know a lot about it. In general, we are supportive of countries pursuing civil nuclear energy. It's clean burning. It provides electricity in a clean-burning and affordable way for citizens," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.
"We are working with some countries in order to help them get there. But in regards to the Egyptian program, that report just came across. I don't know any more specifics about it," Perino told reporters.
She was speaking shortly after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that Egypt planned to build several nuclear power stations, relaunching a nuclear program frozen more than 20 years ago.
Egypt initiated a nuclear energy programme in the 1970s but abandoned it in 1986 after the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe. Mubarak's regime recently outlined plans to revive it.
