The ACU/IPG Project: A Commercial Development Designed to Significantly Reduce Nuclear Proliferation and Security Risks in the Middle East

The launch-ready ACU/IPG project has been designed to minimize nuclear proliferation and security risks associated with the current and future development of civil nuclear power in the Middle East, while increasing the national security of participating countries. The project gives Israel far greater reach and control than it now has over rapidly emerging nuclear power programs in the region.
The ACU/IPG concept envisions a regional regulatory authority known as International Power Generators (IPG) – an organization modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority – owning all civil nuclear power reactors in the region. The owners of IPG would be entities from the U.S., France, Russia, Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf States. Israel would initially be represented through the U.S. entity. The project would be funded by the Gulf States.
IPG would be headquartered in the United States, where it is subject to U.S. law and U.S. consent rights. IPG would select the reactor design and the heavy nuclear components would be manufactured in the U.S., Russia and France. A Reactor Operating Group consisting of EDF, TVA, ROSATOM and a private-sector U.S. nuclear power company would control and operate the reactors. The fresh nuclear fuel would be supplied by fuel facilities in Russia and the United States. The Gulf States would own a share in the U.S. enrichment plant but have no access to the sensitive technology (following the URENCO model). Spent fuel would be returned to Russia for interim storage and geologic disposal without reprocessing as soon as it has sufficiently cooled.
A total of 40 reactors would be located in the Gulf States, Egypt and Jordan. Two of the reactors in Egypt would supply electricity to Israel for domestic use, including for alleviating the burden of supplying electricity to Gaza and the West Bank. Israel would bear no capital cost for these reactors.
The project includes a high-level security package, preferably supplied by Israeli firms. The security package includes space, cyber and physical security systems – investing billions of dollars in Israel over the life of the project.