Saudi Arabia plans to begin enriching and selling uranium, according to the Ministry of Energy.
Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud told a conference in Dhahran on Monday that the move is part of a strategy to monetise all minerals, according to Reuters news agency.
“We will enrich it and we will sell it and we will do a ‘yellowcake’,” he said, referring to a powdered concentrate used to prepare uranium fuel for nuclear reactors. It requires safe handling although it poses few radiation risks.
Saudi Arabia is developing a fledgling nuclear programme and has plans to expand it to include uranium enrichment – a sensitive issue due to its potential link to nuclear weapons. Riyadh insists it aims to use nuclear power to diversify its energy mix.
However, it is unclear where Saudi nuclear ambitions might end.
Riyadh has yet to fire up its first nuclear reactor, which allows its programme to still be monitored under the Small Quantities Protocol (SQP), an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that exempts less advanced states from many reporting obligations and inspections.
Fellow Gulf state the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is home to the Arab world’s first multi-unit operating nuclear energy plant. The UAE has pledged not to enrich uranium itself and not to reprocess spent fuel.
