RIYADH (Thomson Financial) - A Persian Gulf Cooperation Council working group plans to present the results of a feasibility study into creating a peaceful nuclear program by the end of the year, the head of the PGCC said on Monday.

The conclusions will be presented to leaders at their annual meeting in the Omani capital in December, secretary general Abdulrahman al-Attiya said in a statement.

'He (Attiya) expressed his ambitions that the study group will present its findings in the fastest time possible to the cooperation council in Muscat at the end of 2007,' the PGCC statement said.

The statement was issued at the start of the working group's first meeting in Riyadh, attended by industry experts and representatives of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.

The six oil-rich PGCC member states are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

During their summit in Riyadh last December, PGCC leaders announced their determination to develop a joint nuclear technology program for peaceful use.

Their interest in developing atomic energy comes amid a continuing standoff between neighboring Iran and the West over Tehran's program of uranium enrichment.

The United States claims that Tehran’s nuclear program may be diverted to a weapons program; Iran maintains that as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it has right to enrichment and its nuclear activities are strictly peaceful.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said last month that the PGCC has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

"The promising future of nuclear energy in electricity generation and desalination can make it a source for meeting increasing needs," Kuwait Times quoted Attiya as telling the meeting.

Attiya said the program is aimed to cut carbon dioxide emissions from the Persian Gulf region. "A large part of (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council oil and gas products can be used for export in light of expected high prices and demand," Attiya said. "It will also help to limit the increase in carbon dioxide emissions in the region."