Why Oil-Rich Saudi Arabia Is Turning to Nuclear Power
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-20/why-oil-rich-saudi-arabia-is-turning-to-nuclear-power-quicktakeWith the world’s second-biggest proven reserves of oil, Saudi Arabia seems an unlikely aspirant to the nuclear-energy club. Yet the largest oil exporter plans to build at least 16 nuclear reactors over the next 25 years at a cost of more than $80 billion. The Saudis see atomic energy as a way to ease their dependence on finite fossil fuels. But they are also driven by competition with their rival Iran, which has multiple nuclear facilities. Whatever the motivation, the turn to nuclear power by Saudi Arabia, and several other countries in Middle East, raises the risk of a nuclear arms race in the most unstable part of the world.
1. What’s the security risk?
Most nuclear reactors are fueled with enriched uranium, which means countries that want nuclear power must either import the stuff or have their own enrichment capability. Saudi Arabia is insisting on the latter, which could be worrisome, given that highly enriched uranium can be used to build nuclear weapons. Another type of reactor is powered by raw uranium, which Saudi Arabia possesses, but that type produces plutonium, another fuel for nuclear arms.
2. Why does Saudi Arabia want nuclear power now?
Much of the government’s plan for the future, called Vision 2030, is based on diversifying the Saudi economy to prepare for the day when oil and natural gas wells run dry. At the same time, electricity demand in the country has risen by as much as 9 percent a year since 2000, compared with less than 1 percent in developed countries such as the U.S., according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Water desalination is a large draw on power in Saudi Arabia.
3. Why nuclear power instead of just renewables?
4. Does Saudi Arabia want nuclear weapons?
5. Is Iran developing a nuclear bomb?
6. What’s the problem between Iran and Saudi Arabia?
7. What happens next?
