Israel is seriously considering building a nuclear power plant to generate electricity, which would harm the ambiguity surrounding the country's nuclear abilities, local newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said on Wednesday.

    According to the report, officials from Israel's Infrastructure Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office are recently discussing the establishment of a nuclear power plant as an environmentally friendly way of generating electricity.

    Experts said that construction could take at least eight years, including four years to plan it and obtain the necessary permits from authorized bodies, and four more years to build it.

    They estimated that the cost of building a nuclear power plant could reach 2 billion U.S. dollars.

    The idea has recently become more popular due to Israel's dependency on outside sources for fuel, air pollution as a result of operating power stations, and Israel Electric Corporation's crumbling ability to supply enough power for the country.

    However, if the idea were to become a reality, Israel would be forced to allow international supervision of the power plant, the report said.

    Experts in the energy field have begun considering how to set up the plant without harming Israel's ambiguity regarding its nuclear capabilities.

    Possible locations for the proposed plant have also been considered. Despite a 30-year-old government decision to allocate land in the southern Negev area for this purpose, Israel may well consider the possibility of building the plant in cooperation with a neighboring country, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.