By Soren Billing
Saudi Arabia is working on plans for its first nuclear power plant, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh is currently working on the project, according to the Saudi minister of water and electricity, Abdullah Al Hosain.
Al Hosain was speaking to Saudi daily Al Watan on the sidelines of a graduation ceremony at the training centre for the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) in Jubail.
The US government last year signed civil nuclear power deals with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), the body responsible for implementing the UAE’s $41bn nuclear programme, wants to build three nuclear reactors, the first of which would come on stream by 2017.
Qatar has said its interest in nuclear power has waned amid lower oil prices since signing a memorandum with EDF, France’s largest electricity provider, in January 2008.
Source: Arabianbusiness.com
