{"id":1494,"date":"2017-10-31T07:23:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T08:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.com\/saudi-arabia-plans-to-extract-uranium-for-nuclear-program\/"},"modified":"2017-10-31T07:23:15","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T08:23:15","slug":"saudi-arabia-plans-to-extract-uranium-for-nuclear-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/saudi-arabia-plans-to-extract-uranium-for-nuclear-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia plans to extract uranium for nuclear program"},"content":{"rendered":"

madaresharghi<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has unveiled plans to extract its own uranium as part of efforts to bolster its nuclear program and attain \u2018self-sufficiency\u2019 in the production of \u2018nuclear fuel.\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n

\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHashim bin Abdullah Yamani, head of the Saudi government agency tasked with nuclear plans, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), made the announcement in an address to an international nuclear power conference in the United Arab Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi, on Monday, presstv.com reported.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRegarding the production of uranium in the kingdom, this is a program which is our first step towards self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel,\u201d Yamani said, adding, \u201cWe utilize the uranium ore that has been proven to be economically efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi Arabia has approximately 60,000 tons of uranium ore, according to the latest figures provided by Maher al Odan, the chief atomic energy officer of KACARE.<\/p>\n

\n\tRiyadh plans to award a construction contract to foreign firms for its first two nuclear reactors by the end of 2018.<\/p>\n

\n\tIndustry sources say Riyadh is reaching out to potential vendors from the US, South Korea, China, France, Japan and Russia for the projects.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi Arabia could be taking the first step to diversify its power supply by launching a tender for nuclear power plants next month, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere in his remarks, Yamani said Saudi Arabia would soon pass laws for its nuclear program and set up regulations for its nuclear agency by the third quarter of 2018.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency) also has been requested to conduct an integrated review of our nuclear infrastructure during the second quarter of 2018,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe official, however, did not elaborate on whether Riyadh also seeks to enrich and reprocess uranium which could eventually lay the groundwork for possible military uses of the material.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe majority of atomic reactors require uranium enriched to around five percent purity. The same technology in the enrichment process can also be used to enrich the heavy metal to higher, weapons-grade levels.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi Arabia, a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), would become the second country in the Persian Gulf region to go for nuclear energy after the UAE, which is to activate its first nuclear reactor next year.<\/p>\n

\n\tAbu Dhabi has, however, committed not to enrich uranium itself and not to reprocess spent fuel.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe kingdom\u2019s plan to join the nuclear club comes as Iran, which Riyadh views as its arch rival in the region, has over the past years made numerous achievements in the area of civilian nuclear technology.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an effort to allay proliferation concerns, Tehran entered a landmark nuclear deal in 2015 with six world powers, namely the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe IAEA has repeatedly confirmed Iran\u2019s compliance with the pact, under which Tehran has agreed to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent purity, around the normal level needed for commercial power-generation.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi officials have made no secret of their hostile stance toward the nuclear deal which freed Iran from years-long sanctions, thus multiplying the country\u2019s power for economic rivalry and opening up new channels for interaction with the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Arab monarchy even threw its weight behind US President Donald Trump when he declined to certify that Iran was holding up to its end of the deal earlier in October, in sharp contrast to a long list of states which argued that the Iran deal was working.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir openly acknowledged that Riyadh was fully supportive of Trump\u2019s aggressive new policy toward Iran.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaudi Arabia is said to be considering building some 17.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2032, the equivalent of about 17 reactors.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe finances of Saudi Arabia have been hit by a downturn in oil prices that were above $100 a barrel in 2014, but sank below $40 two years later.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe plunge in global oil prices prompted Riyadh to rein in public spending and take economic measures such as diversification, privatization of massive state assets and tax increases.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to the figures released on Sunday, the Saudi Arabian central bank\u2019s foreign reserves continued falling in September and stood at their lowest since April 2011, as the government drew them down to cover a budget deficit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

madaresharghi Saudi Arabia has unveiled plans to extract its own uranium as part of efforts to bolster its nuclear program and attain \u2018self-sufficiency\u2019 in the production of \u2018nuclear fuel.\u2019 \u00a0 Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, head of the Saudi government agency tasked with nuclear plans, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[296,118,28,31,159,639,178,56,213,84,95,82,68,22,23,27],"yoast_head":"\nSaudi Arabia plans to extract uranium for nuclear program - madaresharghi | An Analytical Look at Middle Eastern Developments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/saudi-arabia-plans-to-extract-uranium-for-nuclear-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saudi Arabia plans to extract uranium for nuclear program - madaresharghi | An Analytical Look at Middle Eastern Developments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"madaresharghi Saudi Arabia has unveiled plans to extract its own uranium as part of efforts to bolster its nuclear program and attain \u2018self-sufficiency\u2019 in the production of \u2018nuclear fuel.\u2019 \u00a0 Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, head of the Saudi government agency tasked with nuclear plans, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), made […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/saudi-arabia-plans-to-extract-uranium-for-nuclear-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"madaresharghi | An Analytical Look at Middle Eastern Developments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-31T08:23:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/\",\"name\":\"madaresharghi | An Analytical Look at Middle Eastern Developments\",\"description\":\"madaresharghi | An Analytical Look at Middle Eastern Developments\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/saudi-arabia-plans-to-extract-uranium-for-nuclear-program\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/saudi-arabia-plans-to-extract-uranium-for-nuclear-program\/\",\"name\":\"Saudi Arabia plans to extract uranium for nuclear program - madaresharghi | An Analytical Look at Middle Eastern Developments\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-31T08:23:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-31T08:23:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c52e345120843d5f259215c4e809cdd2\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/saudi-arabia-plans-to-extract-uranium-for-nuclear-program\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/c52e345120843d5f259215c4e809cdd2\",\"name\":\"administrator\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/901309319175b0d219e688b01909d220?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"administrator\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madaresharghi.ir\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}