'Our friends, the Saudis' announced on Sunday that they will be building a 'civilian nuclear and renewable energy centre.' Of course, it will only be for civilian uses and not for atomic weapons... right? Although all discussions have focused upon civilian uses of the technology, analysts note that Saudis and the other Arab Gulf states do not want to lag further behind Iran and Israel in developing nuclear technologies.
Funny how that never seemed to bother the Saudis during the 45 years that Israel has allegedly had a nuclear reactor in Dimona, but now that Iran is apparently developing nuclear weapons, the Saudis are concerned with falling behind. And they're not the only ones. The move positions the kingdom, the largest Arab economy, alongside Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, as Arab states seeking to develop nuclear energy for civilian use. On Friday, France and Kuwait signed a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, and Paris is negotiating a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia. In December, the UAE announced a deal with Korea Energy Company to develop four reactors.
The Saudis are allegedly worried about their 'massive' energy consumption of 1.25 million barrels of oil per day. Well, if they were really worried about it, they could cause consumption to drop by raising the price. Saudi oil for domestic consumption goes for $5 per barrel, which is well below the current market price.
Posted via web from noahdavidsimon's posterous
