Saudi Arabia Nuclear Power-Plant Project
#1 Saudi Arabia to Select Nuclear Power-Plant Site ‘Very Soon’
source SMART SMR Nuclear Plant Integrated Design Concept, courtesy KAERI
by Angelina Rascouet and Wael Mahdi
2016년 10월 20일
Saudis to announce “concrete plans” for nuclear within a year
Neighbor U.A.E. signs reactor deal with Korea Electric Power
Saudi Arabia will soon choose a site for its first nuclear power plant as the world’s biggest crude exporter seeks to diversify its sources of energy.
“We will be selecting sites very soon that we will reserve for our first nuclear energy power plant,” Khalid Al-Falih, the country’s energy minister, said Wednesday at the Oil and Money conference in London. “We hope within the next 12 months that we will be announcing concrete plans.”
The government wants to make sure all “regulatory steps” are taken beforehand, he said. Wind and solar power will also play a “very significant part” of Saudi Arabia’s energy mix, Al-Falih said.
Saudi Arabia, which laid out its ambitions for diversifying energy supplies in 2012, is trying to reduce the economy’s dependence on hydrocarbons as low oil prices strain the budget. The country raised $17.5 billion this week in the biggest bond sale from an emerging-market nation as it seeks to bridge a deficit that widened last year to about 15 percent of gross domestic product.
U.A.E. Reactors
The kingdom has a target of generating 6 to 7 gigawatts of electricity from nuclear power by 2032, rising to 17 gigawatts by 2040, Maher al-Odan, an adviser to the government on renewables planning, said in April of last year. Abu Dhabi in the neighboring United Arab Emirates is building the Gulf Arab region’s first nuclear power plant. The reactor, one of four that the emirate is planning, is scheduled for completion in 2017.
Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. and Korea Electric Power Corp. signed a joint-venture agreement on Thursday for a long-term partnership in the U.A.E.’s nuclear program, ENEC said in an e-mailed statement. Korea Electric is taking an 18 percent stake in a venture representing the commercial interests of the U.A.E.’s Barakah nuclear-plant project, with ENEC holding the rest, according to the statement.
Construction of the U.A.E.’s four reactors is more than 71 percent complete, and all the plants are to be finished in 2020, ENEC said. The U.A.E., like Saudi Arabia, a fellow member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is trying to reduce its reliance on oil exports. It expects to produce nearly a quarter of its electricity from nuclear energy by 2020, according to ENEC’s website.
#2 Saudi Arabia to establish its first nuclear power plant
Saudi Arabia announced that it will soon choose a site for its first nuclear power plant as the world’s biggest crude exporter seeks to diversify its sources of energy, said Bloomberg
October 20, 2016 MEO Staff
Speaking at the Oil and Money conference in London Wednesday, Khalid Al-Falih, the country’s energy minister, said that the state oil company plans to boost its refining and chemicals business and expand into cleaner energy such as nuclear power..
He added “We hope within the next 12 months that we will be announcing concrete plans.”
The government wants to make sure all “regulatory steps” are taken beforehand, he said. Wind and solar power will also play a “very significant part” of Saudi Arabia’s energy mix, Al-Falih said.
The Korean company “Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction” has secured a $900 million contract to build a combined-cycle power plant in Saudi Arabia, according to Korea joongang daily newspaper.
The construction arm of Doosan Group will build a power plant in Fadhili, about 50 miles inland from the eastern port city of Jubail, to provide heat and electricity to the Fadhili gas complex.
The project, initiated by the state-run Saudi Electricity Company and Saudi Aramco, is scheduled for completion by November 2019.
According to Al-Shark Al-Awsat newspaper, The Saudi minister outlined the rapidly changing landscape in the energy industry since OPEC last month in Algeria to modestly cut its output.
Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia is trying to reduce the economy’s dependence on hydrocarbons as low oil prices strain the budget.
The country raised $17.5 billion this week in the biggest bond sale from an emerging-market nation as it seeks to bridge a deficit that widened last year to about 15 percent of gross domestic product.
The Kingdom has also a target of generating 6 to 7 gigawatts of electricity from the nuclear power by 2032, rising to 17 gigawatts by 2040, Maher al-Odan, an adviser to the government on renewable energy planning, said in April last year.
It is noteworthy that Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates is building the Gulf region’s first nuclear power plant. The reactor, one of four that the Emirate is planning, is scheduled to be completed in 2017.
https://www.middleeastobserver.org/2016/10/20/saudi-arabia-establish-its-first-nuclear-power-plant
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