The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will nurture nuclear technology as a next-generation flagship export item, it said Tuesday.

While reporting plans for next year to President Lee Myung-bak, the ministry pointed out that a consortium of the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute and Daewoo Engineering & Construction was recently chosen as the preferred bidder for an order to build an atomic research reactor in Jordan. The ministry predicted the consortium will sign the final contract in the first half of next year and pledged to promote the export of nuclear technology to other Middle Eastern countries.

In the aerospace sector, the ministry put the top priority on a successful launch of the nation's space rocket Naro following a recent failure. It also aims to develop a home-grown carrier rocket for satellites by 2018. Korea will next year launch a Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite, which is expected to shorten the interval of weather forecasts from the current 30 minutes to eight minutes.