President Hosni Mubarak said during the opening of a "traditional" power station in Cairo that a decree would be issued in a few days' time to establish a higher council for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

He said the programme will be developed in cooperation with the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "within a framework of transparency and respect of commitments to the nuclear non-proliferation system."

Egypt initiated a nuclear energy programme in the 1970s but abandoned it in 1986 after the Chernobyl disaster. Mubarak's regime recently outlined plans to revive it.

"Egypt will go through with the nuclear energy project in the belief that energy security is a basic element in building the future of the homeland and part and parcel of Egypt's national security system," Mubarak said.

The 79-year-old president did not say which countries would cooperate in the construction of the power stations, nor how many were planned, but last year he discussed nuclear cooperation during visits to Russia and China.

In November last year, Mubarak stressed that Egypt did not need anyone's permission to develop nuclear energy, having signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Also last year, Egypt announced that it would begin studying the possibility of building a nuclear power station by 2020.

The most populous Arab country now joins Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who have all announced peaceful nuclear ambitions.

Jordan wants a nuclear plant by 2015 to generate electricity, as well as to use nuclear technology in education and to desalinate water for the largely desert kingdom.

On a visit to Saudi Arabia this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would help the oil-rich kingdom in developing a civil nuclear programme.

"It's a right for all Arabs," Mubarak said during a 2006 Arab summit in Riyadh.

Egyptian Electriciy Minister Hassan Younes then said that Egypt wanted to build a 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant at Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast to the east of Alexandria.

He said that the plant would cost 1.5 billion dollars (1.17 billion euros) and would require foreign investment.

Egypt has sought to reassure the international community by insisting that it will not import enriched uranium, amid tensions over the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea.

Analysts have argued that a nuclear alliance between Egypt and China -- and possibly including Russia -- could rile the United States, Egypt's traditional ally.

But the White House on Monday said it was "generally supportive" of civilian atomic power, though it admitted it had little information about Egypt's plans to relaunch nuclear 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 programme, that report just came across. I don't know any more specifics about it," Perino told reporters.

Egypt recently stepped up its criticism of what it says are the double standards of the international community after European Union countries refused to back Cairo's call for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East.

Egypt and Syria in September urged the IAEA to pass a resolution condemning Israel for possessing nuclear weapons. Israel is widely regarded as the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power.

Cairo and other Muslim capitals see Israel as the main nuclear threat in the region, while the West views Iran as the greatest threat to peace.

The US accuses Tehran of trying to develop an atomic bomb under the guise of a peaceful nuclear energy drive.

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