BICOM

Saudi Arabia’s first nuclear reactor could be built in a year, according to satellite images published in a Bloomberg report.

The nuclear facility, located in the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh, has sparked concerns in the international community that Saudi Arabia is developing a nuclear capability without signing up to international safeguards and rules which govern the industry.

According to the Bloomberg report: “The advancement is alarming to arms-control experts because Saudi Arabia has yet to sign up to the international framework of rules other nuclear powers follow to ensure that civilian atomic programmes aren’t used to build weapons.”

Robert Kelley, a former director of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the construction is likely to be completed next year and means that “Saudi Arabia has to get its safeguards in order”.

Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said the facility’s purpose is to: “Engage in strictly peaceful scientific, research, educational and training activities in full compliance with international agreements.’’ The reactor is being built with transparency, and the kingdom has signed all international non-proliferation treaties, the ministry said, adding that the facility is open to visitors.

Saudi Arabia is currently signed up to the IAEA’s Small Quantities Protocol, for states with minimal or no nuclear material or facilities, but it has yet to adopt the IAEA’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement that would allow nuclear inspectors to access potential sites of interest.

Last year, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said his country would develop a bomb if Iran did so.

Israel’s Minister for Energy Yuval Steinitz presented Israel’s red lines to the US regarding Saudi Arabia’s development of nuclear technology. Israel reportedly requested the exact locations of Saudi nuclear reactors, US assurances that Riyadh will not get the “capability or the legitimacy” to enrich uranium on its soil, and that the US will be the only country to supply the reactors with nuclear fuel and to remove it once it is used.

In March US Energy Secretary Rick Perry approved seven secret authorisations allowing US companies to sell nuclear technology and development to the Saudis.