In Saudi Arabia, earlier scenarios to develop 17.6 GW of nuclear power by 2032 have been scaled back to building a mix of 1.2-1.6 GW and small modular reactors without any set timeline.

However, the West has concerns about the Saudi program because of its stated intentions to mine and enrich its uranium deposits.

In a March 2018 interview with CBS, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said, “Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible.”

Such statements have unnerved Western countries, including some US lawmakers, who have urged the US Administration to persuade Saudi Arabia to agree to the “gold standard” and foreswear enriching uranium.

Resource-barren Jordan

Turkey, which has a so-called 123 nuclear cooperation agreement with the US just like the UAE, is building its first nuclear plant Akkuyu, which will consist of four 1.2 GW reactors being supplied by Rosatom, with work on the first unit set to start in 2023………

esource-barren Jordan needs financial help to achieve its ambition to produce nuclear energy to help halt its reliance on energy imports. Jordan, which in 2015 signed with Rosatom a $10 billion deal to build a 2 GW nuclear power plant, has since scrapped this plan and is looking at small modular reactors.

Financial constraints

Jordan also wants to mine and enrich its own uranium deposits, which is another sticking point with the US in reaching a 123 agreement.

“Finances is likely to pose the biggest obstacle to fulfilling these [nuclear] dreams because nuclear energy is such a costly venture,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“If you look at it in terms of energy efficiency, nuclear energy is not the most efficient way of developing electricity. Solar energy probably offers better efficiency in the long-run, while in the short-run because of the depressed price of oil, countries are finding it more economic to just import oil.”

However, the elephant in the room that may thwart the region’s nuclear ambitions is Iran, which started in 1959 with a small US nuclear reactor but ended up entangled in a major standoff with the West in the 2000s……

Besides Iran, another cause for concern is the potential attack on nuclear facilities.

“Modern nuclear power plants are designed to be secure against most kinds of threats but they can’t be perfectly secure against threats such as an airplane directly attacking the plant…or in the case of an attack like the Israeli attack on Iraq’s Osirak reactor [in 1981],” Fitzpatrick said. https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/videos/market-movers-europe/110920-utilities-renewables-libya-oil-lockdown-lng-uniper-germany