Many Countries in the Middle East are Interested in Developing Nuclear Energy

Toyo Taniguchi, deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, recently revealed that several Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have expressed interest in developing civilian nuclear energy and diversifying their energy structure.

Although these Middle Eastern countries have repeatedly emphasized that the main purpose of developing civilian nuclear energy is to desalinate sea water, at a time when the situation on the Iranian nuclear issue is delicate, these Middle Eastern countries' accelerated move towards the nuclear energy field has aroused concerns in some Western countries: If such a situation in the Middle East Nuclear competition in a complex and unstable region will have unimaginable consequences.

Taniguchi Toyoshi recently revealed in an interview with the "Middle East Economic Digest" weekly that at least six Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have expressed interest in developing civilian nuclear energy.

Taniguchi Toyomi said that the International Atomic Energy Agency has started consultations with the governments of these Middle Eastern countries and will help these countries build nuclear facilities in accordance with the relevant regulations of the IAEA.

He also revealed that these Middle Eastern countries intend to build small nuclear power plants with a power generation capacity between 100 megawatts and 300 megawatts. According to current technology, it can be completed in only six or seven years at the fastest. The International Atomic Energy Agency believes that building such a nuclear power plant may not be economical. Currently, the power generation capacity of nuclear power plants built internationally is usually between 500 megawatts and 1,000 megawatts, but it takes about 10 years to complete.

International Atomic Energy Agency officials said that the purpose of developing civilian nuclear energy in these Middle Eastern countries is to diversify their energy agencies, especially to save the large amount of energy required to desalinate seawater. For these Middle Eastern countries that are short of fresh water resources, sufficient fresh water resources are strategic resources related to national economic development and even national security. Previously, the cost of using traditional energy to purify fresh water was quite expensive.

However, Bronwen Maddox, a reporter for the British Times, believes that Middle East countries are quite rich in oil resources, especially countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. If they give up their own superior energy resources and turn to development, there may be security and Nuclear energy, which has potential pollution risks, may have other purposes besides desalinating seawater resources.

Mark Fitzpatrick, a nuclear expert at the Institute of International Strategic Studies, believes that there may be some connection between these Arab countries' determination to develop nuclear technology and the Iranian nuclear issue. Especially from the coincidence of time, it is easy to trigger associations from the outside world.

Fitzpatrick said that Iran has accelerated the implementation of its nuclear program and continuously improved its uranium enrichment capabilities, which has aroused concerns in Arab countries. These countries feel that if they can master advanced nuclear technology, they will have security guarantees against nuclear threats. Turkey, which was the first to announce its entry into the civilian nuclear energy field, announced in June this year that it would build three nuclear power plants by 2015. At that time, it was a tense moment for the Iranian nuclear issue.