MNA � Defense minister underlined that nuclear energy should be used in marine technologies , including marine propulsion systems, to reduce the environmental effects.

Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan who was speaking in a ceremony to unveil Tous Gasoline-burning Marine Outboard Engine, a propulsion system for boats, in Olympic Hotel in Tehran�as part of the Marine Propellants Conference, told reporters that strict planning spanning years could improve a country�s position in propulsion technology; �technical know-how is a major contributing factor in reaching a place envied by others; a different factor is the proportionality of design and production with the field the product is to be used,� he told the press.

Dehghan also believed that nuclear technology could help manage the environmental pollution through decreasing fossil fuels burning in conventional engines and thus cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Dehghan believed in any production enterprise, overhasty decisions and a fervor to achieve success overnight usually renders any project a failure. �Any sector should be prepared to absorb the technology it require; otherwise, such appropriations would be aborted; merely copying foreign technology is not indigenization proper; neither is reverse engineering; for almost 12 years, our efforts to produce a container ship�had produced nothing and we sought an easy method of procuring one from South Korea; the cycle has been vicious; Iran now is the least developed country in marine technologies,� he lamented.

�Why should our coastal regions in Persian Gulf be the most poverty-stricken regions in the country? This vicious circle of underdevelopment and poverty should be corrected,� he demanded.