DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The president of the energy-hungry United Arab Emirates has signed a law regulating the development of a civilian nuclear program, clearing the way for construction of a nuclear power plant with help from the United States.
Washington has promoted its plan to help the Emirates' develop peaceful nuclear power as a model of the kind of cooperation it would like to achieve with Iran, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is using a civilian program as a cover to develop an atomic weapons capability.
The United Arab Emirates, which is just across the Persian Gulf from Iran, is among those Arab nations wary of Iran's nuclear work.
UAE President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed into law the regulatory framework for building "a peaceful nuclear energy sector," the country's official news agency reported Sunday.
The law complies with regulations of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, the state-run WAM news agency said.
Under those guidelines, the UAE will be prohibited from developing its own program to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel. Both of those technologies are potential pathways to developing nuclear weapons.
The U.S. and the other permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as Germany, are trying to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium to ease concerns that it could use that process to build weapons.
Iran says it only wants to use enrichment for peaceful purposes like nuclear power and medical research.
In May, President Barack Obama approved plans to help the UAE develop nuclear power to meet its growing demand for electricity in its boomtowns of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Under the pact, the UAE must import, rather than produce, fuel for its nuclear reactors. It also has committed not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent nuclear fuel into plutonium, which is used in nuclear bombs.
The U.S. Congress has until Oct. 17 to pass legislation either amending or rejecting the deal. If no bill is passed, the agreement goes into effect. The pact would run for 30 years and allow the U.S. to transfer nuclear equipment, reactors and materiel for civil nuclear research to the UAE.
Concerns have been raised about the UAE's history as a transshipment point for material intended for Iran's nuclear program. Critics of the deal have also pointed to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups use of financial networks in the UAE to launder money.
They say that, while the UAE has taken steps to combat terrorist financing and tighten its export control laws, it is too soon to enter into such a major deal.
However, representatives of the Obama administration have assured critics that the UAE is a trusted ally in the Gulf and will adhere to nonproliferation rules.
