Saudi to take bids to kick off ambitious nuclear power plants: Report

Saudi Arabia is preparing to launch a tender for its first nuclear power plants as early as next month, sources in the industry say, noting that the oil-rich kingdom is bent on diversifying its energy supply.

The world’s top oil exporter is hoping to lure in potential vendors from countries like Russia, South Korea, France, China and Japan to start construction next year of reactors needed for two plants with a total capacity of up to 2.8 gigawatts, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing three sources.

“Competition will be fierce,” said an industry source, noting that Riyadh was expected to file a Request for Information (RFI) to suppliers come October, officially starting the tender process after completing feasibility studies.

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This will make Saudi Arabia only the second Arab country after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to go nuclear, in a bid to provide its 32 million population with electricity. The UAE’s first reactor is expected to go live next year.

Ambitious planning heats up competition

The King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), the Saudi government agency drawing up the nuclear plans, has declared on its website that the kingdom is considering building 17.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2032.

That means the kingdom is considering building up to 17 standard nuclear reactors.

Although estimates put the possible tender’s value at several billion dollars, it is still expected to be dwarfed by those being considered in India and South Africa.

However, deep pockets and the lack of any meaningful anti-nuclear movement in the country could easily turn Saudi Arabia into one of the most lucrative markets for an industry that has been struggling for contracts following the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.

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According to Reuters, Russia’s state-owned nuclear company Rosatom has long been in talks with KACARE. A top French minister and chief executives of French utility EDF and reactor builder Areva also visited the kingdom in 2013.

The two countries are facing stiff competition from South Korean consortium Kepco, which was able to beat the French in 2009 to win a $40 billion contract with the UAE.

The US-Japanese nuclear energy giant Westinghouse-Toshiba is also a viable contender given its deep ties with the Middle East.

The Trump-Russia probe

The news comes amid troubling reports for the White House that accused US President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, of secretly promoting Russian nuclear power technology in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Middle East.

• Flynn to turn over Russia documents to Senate

On Wednesday, top Democrats investigating Flynn’s role in the so-called Trump-Russia “collusion” case accused Flynn of intentionally leaving out a series of nuclear energy-related trips and meetings he had from the documents he handed over to Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the probe.

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