Riyadh to use local uranium for nuclear fuel

Saudi Arabia plans to use domestically-sourced uranium to build up its nuclear power industry, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Wednesday.

He added that recent exploration had shown a diverse portfolio of uranium in the Gulf Arab state, the world’s top oil exporter.

It is unclear where its ambitions end, since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 that the kingdom would develop nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran did.

“The kingdom intends to utilise its national uranium resources, including in joint ventures with willing partners in accordance with international commitments and transparency standards,” said Abdulaziz bin Salman.

He told a mining industry conference in Riyadh that this would involve “the entire nuclear fuel cycle which involves the production of yellowcake, low enriched uranium and the manufacturing of nuclear fuel both for our national use and of course for export.”

Fellow Gulf state, the UAE, has the Arab world’s first multi-unit operating nuclear energy plant, and has committed not to enrich uranium itself and not to reprocess spent fuel.

Atomic reactors need uranium enriched to around 5% purity, but the same technology can also be used create weapons-grade levels.

This issue has been at the heart of Western and regional concerns about Iran’s nuclear programme, and led to the 2015 deal between Tehran and global powers that capped enrichment at 3.67%.

The pact unravelled after then-President Donald Trump exited the deal in 2018, and efforts to salvage the agreement have stalled since September.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2023.

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