S Arabia plans to enrich uranium for nuclear power programme

ABU DHABI: Saudi Arabia plans to enrich and produce uranium for its nuclear power programme, which will begin by building its two planned nuclear reactors, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Kingdom’s newly appointed energy minister, said here at the 24th World Energy Congress, international media reported.

“We will proceed cautiously,” he said in his first comments since taking over the ministry from his predecessor Khalid al-Falih, who held the post since 2015. Al-Falih had announced in January 2019 that the Kingdom’s plans to build the two large nuclear power reactors were on track, according to Saudi state media.

In January 2019, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) in Saudi Arabia had received offers from five countries to build the first two nuclear plants on the Gulf coast. The countries include the United States, Russia, France, South Korea, and China.

Saudi Arabia in 2015 had signed an intergovernmental agreement with Russia on cooperation in peaceful nuclear technology, followed by the Cooperation on Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy Program in October 2017.