Oil Rich Middle Easter Countries like Saudi Arabia,Kuwait and UAE all have announced ambitious Nuclear Energy Plans.These countries have huge reserves of Oil and Gas so it seems strange that they are dabbling in Nuclear Power.Note Environment and Global Warming has never ranked too high in Middle East with Saudi Arabia blocking poor island nations access to climate change data. Money is not a problem for these countries who have hundreds of billions stashed up from exports of Fossil Fuels.The reason given for their interest in Nuclear Plants is that they want to preserve their Oil Resources for export and not consume them for Domestic Energy.Kuwait consumes 12% of its more than 3 million barrels of Oil on Electricity Production.While its prohibitively expensive to burn oil to turn turbines for a normal country,its not an issue for Kuwait which is literally swimming in dirt cheap oil.The country has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world with less than .001% of the global population owning 7.6% of the Global Oil Reserves.Nuclear Equipment Suppliers like Toshiba,GE-Hitachi,Mitsubishi and Areva have all latched onto this opportunity
South Korea Surprisingly Wins the $20 Billion Deal from UAE
Economic Diplomacy is being heavily deployed by the companies to win over these lucrative contracts.South Korea’s aggressive PM flew to UAE to win a $20 Billion contract outfoxing formidable players USA,Japan and Russia.South Korea does not have much heft in international geopolitics despite being one of the world’s biggest economies.South Korea in fact is heavily depended on US for its Security against North Korea.Building Nuclear Plants requires strong lobbying by influential countries like France,Russia and USA so a South Korean Win came out of the blue.The reason for their win is said to be the much lower cost quoted by the Korean Consortium led by Korean Electric which edged out GE and Areva led bidders.South Korea hopes to establish its Nuclear Energy Prowess through the UAE Deal and was prepared to quote low in order to win.
South Korea wins landmark Gulf nuclear power deal – Reuters
A South Korean group won a landmark deal to build and operate four nuclear reactors for the United Arab Emirates, beating more favored U.S. and French rivals to one of the Middle East’s biggest ever energy contracts.
Under the $40 billion deal announced on Sunday, which Seoul said it hoped would kick-start an export drive for its nuclear technology, the first nuclear plant in the Gulf Arab region is scheduled to start supplying power to the UAE grid in 2017.
A consortium led by state-owned utility Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) aims to complete the UAE’s four 1,400 megawatt reactors by 2020.
The South Korean president’s office described the deal as “the largest mega-project in Korean history,” while KEPCO said it was also it was in talks with Turkey to export two nuclear power reactors to Black Sea areas.
The U.S. and the UAE have a nuclear cooperation pact and U.S.-based firm Westinghouse Electric, a unit of Japan‘s Toshiba Corp, was part of the winning consortium.
Middle East has tried to Diversify away from Oil and Gas but Failed in Classic Case of the Resource Curse
Note the diversification efforts of Middle Eastern Countries have never really taken off .Masdar which is Abu Dhabi Renewable Energy Fund has faced considerable difficulties in making money and putting up Green Energy plants in the Middle East.With so much commodity money flowing in,these societies have failed to progress in a classical case of “Resource Curse”.Politically also these countries remain far behind being mostly ruled over by kings and bureaucrats.
Kuwait Plans to Build Four Nuclear Reactors, Power Official Says – Bloomberg
Kuwait, the fifth-biggest oil producer among OPEC members, plans to build four nuclear power reactors by 2022, joining a drive for atomic energy among Gulf countries seeking alternative sources of electricity.
Kuwait’s National Nuclear Energy Committee is considering options and will release a so-called roadmap for developing atomic power as early as January, Ahmad Bishara, secretary general of the body, said in an interview. The country may build four 1,000 megawatt reactors, he said.
Kuwait, the fifth-biggest oil producer among OPEC members, plans to build four nuclear power reactors by 2022, joining a drive for atomic energy among Gulf countries seeking alternative sources of electricity.
Kuwait’s National Nuclear Energy Committee is considering options and will release a so-called roadmap for developing atomic power as early as January, Ahmad Bishara, secretary general of the body, said in an interview. The country may build four 1,000 megawatt reactors, he said.