Leah Marie Angelou reports that nuclear energy used to be popular, especially during the 1960s and the 1970s. It became a primary source of power back then because it was affordable and does not cause a lot of disruptions in the environment. Many experts saw the future in nuclear power. Even France shifted to the said energy in 1974, and nuclear reactors powered up 75 percent of the European country’s electricity. [The U.S. led the nuclear bandwagon, building 104 reactors and generated 20 percent of its electricity from these reactors.] But all good things have some hiccups along the way with scarcities in manpower and postponements in construction bumping up the expenses in constructing and maintaining nuclear reactors. In effect, all these factors hampered the progression of nuclear energy.
[But the biggest deterrent were the accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in the United States [during which the media singlehandedly scared the dickens out of the U.S. citizens although not one was killed] and the true disaster at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine in 1979 and 1986, where "Cold War" pressures reveled the weakness of the Soviet Union's technical capabilities and killed more that 30 emergency personnel and 3,000 cancer cases in children, although all but a few of the latter were later cured. These incidents contributed directly to the decline of nuclear power as a primary energy source and coal and natural gas came roaring back as the principal energy source for generating electricity in the U.S.]
In the Middle East, Iran has been the only one with a functional nuclear reactor. On the other hand, other Middle Eastern countries such as the Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been recently entertaining the idea of establishing such utilities for their respective societies. And now, there has been a recent development within the region when Rick Perry, the Energy Secretary of the United States [and Jared Kissner before him, visited Saudi Arabia. Perry discuss the country’s plans of commencing the construction of 16 nuclear reactors and SA invited the U.S. to cooperate with the SA as previously reported.] According to OilPrice.com, Saudi Arabia aims to add 17 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear electric and 40 GW of solar power to its power grid, which currently has 55 GWs of power generating capacity. But before the plans can commence, the country will start soliciting bids for two reactors, and these bids can come from the American, particularly Westinghouse; Chinese; French; Russian; and South Korean consortia. However, before companies in the U.S. can start bidding, the country would need to work on improving its policy that is preventing technology exports needed for uranium enhancement and reprocessing because Saudi Arabia just became capable on its own of producing and enhancing uranium. It already has 60,000 tons of local uranium ore deposits (FACT CHECK....SA has just begun to explore for uranium in the SA].
Speaking of uranium, the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) recently began surveying for thorium and uranium resources at the Hail region. The China National Nuclear Corporation and the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy are accompanying SGS throughout the project. As what RT Business News [Russian Television News = KGB] reported, the survey is only for mineral exploration, power generation, development of renewable energy, and desalination of seawater. Its objectives never included the military aspect. Furthermore, LobeLog reported that the U.S. is prepared to accept Saudi Arabia’s procurement of a uranium enrichment capability. The latter also clarified its desire to locally process the minerals. Starting in 1975, the U.S. vehemently supported the restriction of disseminating the technology of uranium enrichment. The American government believed back then that this would prevent materials for nuclear weapons from being produced. [So much for that idea because the Jeannie is already out of the bottle.]
In other Middle Eastern countries, one of the four APR-1400 reactor units at the Barakah nuclear power station in the UAE is about to start its commercial operation soon. South Korean company KEPCO constructed all these units on a $30 billion budget. But the one aspect that separates the UAE and Saudi Arabia is that the former is not interested in mining and reprocessing uranium. Egypt seems to be riding along the rise of nuclear power in the Middle East as it announced a four-reactor project called the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Project, which is the collaboration between Egypt and Russia, with the U.S. in the mix somewhere. The latter will build four VVER-1200 reactors in the plant, and these units will make the former become the only country in the region to have Generation III+ reactors.
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
