Saudi Arabia has signed a nuclear energy co-operation deal with nuclear desalination specialists. Argentina’s Atomic Energy Commission and technology firm INVAP (which has built research reactors in Algeria and Egypt ) have a simplified pressurised water reactor design aimed at small-scale electricity generation and water desalination projects, which are both urgent needs in Saudi Arabia.
‘[We are] … very pleased to have entered into a co-operation agreement with Argentina, a country that has exhibited continued leadership in the transfer of technology, the sharing of best practices, and the safe operation of atomic reactors,’ said Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, president of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy.
‘With Saudi Arabia’s local power demand expected to nearly triple in the next 20 years, it is critical that the Kingdom use atomic and renewable energy technologies to meet this growing demand in a safe, sustainable and clean manner.’
Saudi is struggling to keep up with rapidly rising power demand, especially for energy intensive seawater desalination, and wants to build nuclear reactors to cut gas and oil burning in the power generation sector. It has signed similar agreements with several other countries with experience in nuclear energy.
