Saudi Arabia intends to expand nuclear capabilities, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday. Western officials leaked to the newspaper reports that the Kingdom had built a yellow uranium cake mining facility near al-Ula in the northwest with two Chinese entities.
Yellow cake is derived from uranium ore and is an intermediate state in the nuclear fuel bypass procedure, prior to enrichment.
While Saudi Arabia has not publicly stated this and has “categorically” denied its WSJ lifestyle, the country’s ambitions for nuclear power are well documented. On 9 September 2019, Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said Saudi Arabia intends to enrich uranium and build up to 16 nuclear reactors.
“We continue with caution Array … We are experimenting with two nuclear reactors,” he said at a convention in Abu Dhabi.
The United States, China, Russia, South Korea and France competed with Saudi Arabia in the structure of the first two, Saudi Arabia did not comply with the US “gold standard” agreement.
Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 describes what is required throughout the United States for nuclear cooperation, adding a provision prohibiting uranium enrichment:
The cooperating party shall ensure that no curtain transferred, used or produced through the use of transferred tissues or production or use facilities is reprocessed or enriched, whether with respect to plutonium, uranium-233, highly enriched uranium (UME), or irradiated nuclear tissues, the shape or content of which has been altered differently without prior authorization from the United States. “
Saudi Arabia refuses to comply with this provision, blocking negotiations between the United States and Saudi Arabia that began in 2012.
China seems to have made progress. In 2016, the China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) agreed to build a high-temperature reactor in the Kingdom. Then, in 2017, the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and the Saudi Arabian Geological Survey (SGS) signed an agreement to continue uranium exploration.
“The explanation for why we participate in nuclear generation progression agreements with countries is that they are committed to popular gold and engaged in a relationship with the United States,” US Sen. Chris Murphy said. “The Saudis are looking to play in any way, and we can’t let them get away with it.”
Saudi officials insist that the nuclear program is for energy purposes and that it is not intended to produce military-grade uranium. The kingdom raised suspicion earlier this year when satellite images documented the structure of a nuclear reactor without the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Although Saudi Arabia has relied on oil to generate wealth and energy, its Vision 2030 program recognizes a desire to “diversify” its economy. “We have started to expand our investments in other sectors,” the program says.
But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in a 60-minute interview: “Saudi Arabia needs to obtain a nuclear bomb, but without a doubt, if Iran has developed a nuclear bomb, we will deliver it as soon as possible.”
Ollie Heinonen, senior adviser to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies for Science and Non-Proliferation, told the WSJ that “the structure of the facility advised the Saudis to keep their functions open.”
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