Arab states race for nuclear power

Amid the gathering storm over Iran’s controversial nuclear ambitions, the race is on among Arab states to build nuclear power plants of their own, opening up immense trade opportunities for the industrialized world as well as the specter of proliferation.

The United States, Britain, France and Russia are competing for contracts in the nuclear energy bonanza that is emerging in the Middle East as Arab states seek to generate more power to feed their growing economies and to build desalination plants, a vital element in development plans as water resources shrink.
The Gulf states are all major oil producers, Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading exporter, and the U.A.E. is the third-ranked producer.

But they, and their fellow Arabs, are finding that their economic development is outstripping their power generation capabilities, hence the focus on nuclear energy.

In Egypt, energy demand is growing by 7 percent a year. Even the oil-rich Gulf states are suffering power cuts these days.

The U.A.E. hopes to have its first nuclear plant online by 2015, although industry sources say that may be way too optimistic. It takes on average eight years — and $4 billion — to construct a reactor plant.

Two years ago, there was little interest in nuclear energy around the Arab world. But now that’s all changed — to a large degree because of what’s happening in Iran.

UPI