Saudi
Arabia's Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud attends
the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October
29, 2024. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Saudi Arabia plans to enrich and sell uranium, energy minister says
DUBAI,
Jan 13 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to monetize all minerals,
including by selling uranium, Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin
Salman said on Monday.
"We
will enrich it and we will sell it and we will do a 'yellowcake,'"
Prince Abdulaziz told a conference in Dhahran, referring to a powdered
concentrate of the mineral used to prepare uranium fuel for nuclear
reactors. It requires safe handling although it poses few radiation
risks.
Saudi
Arabia has a nascent nuclear programme that it wants to expand to
eventually include uranium enrichment, a sensitive area given its role
in nuclear weapons. Riyadh has said it wants to use nuclear power to
diversify its energy mix.
It
is unclear where Saudi nuclear ambitions will end, since Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 that the kingdom would develop nuclear
weapons if regional rival Iran did.
Fellow
Gulf state the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has the Arab world's first
multi-unit operating nuclear energy plant. The UAE has committed not to
enrich uranium itself and not to reprocess spent fuel.
The
kingdom said last year it planned to scrap light-touch oversight of its
nuclear facilities by the U.N. atomic watchdog and switch to regular safeguards by the end of 2024.
Riyadh
has yet to fire up its first nuclear reactor, which allows its
programme to still be monitored under the Small Quantities Protocol
(SQP), an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that
exempts less advanced states from many reporting obligations and
inspections.
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Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Nadine Awadalla Editing by Bernadette Baum