Filter by tags: China Saudi Arabia France The Wall Street Journal Clear all tag filters
2 news articles found
World’s top oil exporter wants to build around 17 GW of reactor capacity
The kingdom wants to diversify its energy mix, adding nuclear power so it can free up more crude for export. Courtesy B.Alotaby/Wikipedia.
Saudi Arabia aims to take advantage of its significant uranium resources to develop a commercial nuclear power programme, energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud said.
“We have a huge amount of uranium resource, which we would like to exploit and put in the most transparent way,” he was quoted as telling the International Mining Conference in Riyadh.
“We will bring partners and we will be exporting and manufacturing and developing it and we will be commercially monetising that resource.”
The minister said the world needed more flexibility because the transition to clean energy is complicated. “We should not forfeit energy security for the sake of a publicity stunt”, he said. “The transition needs to be a well-thought of transition.”
“We have a huge amount of uranium resource, which we would like to exploit and put in the most transparent way,” he was quoted as telling the International Mining Conference in Riyadh.
“We will bring partners and we will be exporting and manufacturing and developing it and we will be commercially monetising that resource.”
The minister said the world needed more flexibility because the transition to clean energy is complicated. “We should not forfeit energy security for the sake of a publicity stunt”, he said. “The transition needs to be a well-thought of transition.”
Press reports have said Saudi Arabia, the world’s top il exporter, could produce over 90,000 tonnes of uranium from three major deposits in the country, enough to provide fuel for nuclear plants the country seeks to build and to export uranium.
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Saturday, 15 January 2022
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/kingdom-aims-to-take-advantage-of-uranium-resources-as-it-looks-to-nuclear-energy-1-5-2022
The Wall Street Journal has claimed that Saudi Arabia has constructed a facility – with assistance from China – to extract uranium yellowcake from uranium ore, citing western officials with knowledge of the matter.
The US newspaper reported that the processing facility, which has not been publicly disclosed, is in Saudi Arabia’s northwest region and is raising concerns from US officials. It said the main concern is that as the kingdom moves ahead with developing a commercial nuclear programme, it is keeping the door open for the creation of nuclear weapons.
Press reports said the Saudi energy ministry has “categorically denied” that it has built a uranium ore facility in the area described by the western officials. However, the reports quoted Saudi officials as saying that the extraction of uranium is a key component of the kingdom's economic diversification strategy, which looks to move away from its dependence on oil exports.
The US newspaper reported that the processing facility, which has not been publicly disclosed, is in Saudi Arabia’s northwest region and is raising concerns from US officials. It said the main concern is that as the kingdom moves ahead with developing a commercial nuclear programme, it is keeping the door open for the creation of nuclear weapons.
Press reports said the Saudi energy ministry has “categorically denied” that it has built a uranium ore facility in the area described by the western officials. However, the reports quoted Saudi officials as saying that the extraction of uranium is a key component of the kingdom's economic diversification strategy, which looks to move away from its dependence on oil exports.
The energy ministry confirmed Saudi Arabia has a contract with China on uranium exploration in certain areas.
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Thursday, 06 August 2020
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/saudi-arabia-press-report-claims-kingdom-has-built-uranium-processing-facility-8-3-2020