Israel looks to develop nuclear energy

National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau announced Israel's interest in developing nuclear power at an international nuclear energy conference in Paris.

Construction of such a plant would draw new attention to Israel's nuclear activities.

Israel is widely believed to have a stockpile of nuclear weapons. But it has never acknowledged or denied that.

Landau's office says no specific plans to set up a nuclear power plant have been drawn up.

The idea of generating nuclear energy has been floating around for years.

In 2007, then-Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer said he intended to submit a plan to build a nuclear power plant in Israel's southern Negev desert.