Iraq is reportedly lobbying for approval to rebuild its nuclear reactors, 19 years after their destruction by British and American war planes under Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqi government has approached the French nuclear industry about the reconstruction of at least one of the reactors that was bombed at the start of the first Persian Gulf war in 1991, British paper The Guardian said on Tuesday.

Baghdad has also contacted the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations to seek ways to extricate itself from resolutions that bar Iraq's resumption of its nuclear activity.

"We are co-operating with the IAEA and expanding and defining areas of research where we can implement nuclear technology for peaceful means," Science and Technology Minister Raid Fahmi told The Guardian.

The minister explained the decision was taken due to a mounting need for nuclear technology years after the US-led invasion of Iraq that left the country without an industry.

"This was raised several months ago with the relevant bodies," Fahmi said.

The Arab nation has 'only peaceful applications' in mind for a nuclear program, 'including the health sector, agriculture … and water treatment', he insisted.

Iraq originally had three reactors, known as Tamuz 1, Tamuz 2 and Tamuz 14, all located in the Tuwaitha nuclear research center south of Baghdad which also included a nuclear waste management facility. One of the three, a French-made reactor, was destroyed in a 1981 Israeli bombing raid.

Alleged possession of nuclear arms and weapons of mass destruction accounted in the most part for the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by the United States and Britain.

Old electricity networks and water distribution system, unproductive service sectors, including science and technology, and failure to meet the massive needs at home make relatively cheap and efficient nuclear energy an appealing alternative.

MRS/AKM