Saudi wants to enrich uranium under N-power plan
ABU DHABI, September 10, 2019
Saudi Arabia wants to go ahead with the full cycle of the nuclear programme, including the production and enrichment of uranium for fuel, the kingdom's new energy minister was quoted as saying.
Saudi Arabia's nuclear power programme will begin with two atomic reactors, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, according to a Reuters report.
"We are proceeding with it cautiously ... we are experimenting with two nuclear reactors," Prince Abdulaziz said, referring to a plan to issue a tender for the kingdom's first two nuclear power reactors.
Speaking at the World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi, he said the tender is expected in 2020, with US, Russian, South Korean, Chinese and French firms involved in preliminary talks about the multi-billion-dollar project.
Prince Abdulaziz also said that the country is aiming for an initial public offering of its national oil giant Saudi Aramco "as soon as possible."
He was speaking in a conference for the first time since his appointment earlier this week, replacing Khalid Al-Falih. Aramco is preparing to sell up to a 5% stake by 2020-2021, in what could be the world's biggest IPO.
Prince Abdulaziz said the kingdom would keep working with other producers to achieve market balance and that an Opec-led supply-curbing deal would survive "with the will of everybody".
He told reporters there would be "no radical" change in the oil policy of Saudi Arabia, which he said was based on strategic considerations such as reserves and energy consumption.
