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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 31 2017, @06:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the iranium dept.

Saudi Arabia to extract uranium for 'self-sufficient' nuclear program

Saudi Arabia plans to extract uranium domestically as part of its nuclear power program and sees this as a step towards "self-sufficiency" in producing atomic fuel, a senior official said on Monday.

Extracting its own uranium also makes sense from an economic point of view, said Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, head of the Saudi government agency tasked with the nuclear plans, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE).

In a speech at an international nuclear power conference in Abu Dhabi, he did not specify whether Saudi Arabia seeks to also enrich and reprocess uranium – steps in the fuel cycle which are especially sensitive as they can open up the possibility of military uses of the material.

The world's top oil exporter says it wants to tap atomic power for peaceful purposes only in order to diversify its energy supply and will award a construction contract for its first two nuclear reactors by the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, women will be allowed to attend sporting events at stadiums. And here's a message for the skeptics (editorial).

Also at Newsweek.

Previously: Saudi Arabia Will Lift Ban on Women Drivers Next Year
Saudi Arabia Planning $500 Billion Megacity and Business Zone
Robot Granted "Citizenship" in Saudi Arabia, Sparking Backlash


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Sulla on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:48PM (7 children)

    by Sulla (5173) on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:48PM (#590177) Journal

    So they bought the American anti-missile system, they bought the Russian anti-missile system, they bought some 200B of military equipment in total, and now they are looking to refine for use in power plants. Seems to me the Saudis are preparing for a play at the peninsula to make up for the end of their oil reserves.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Tuesday October 31 2017, @08:41PM (6 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 31 2017, @08:41PM (#590202)

    Also they have one neighbor that is formerly the Persian Empire and another neighbor that conquered and took over western civilization.

    possibility of military uses of the material

    I have kind of a hobby of nuclear physics for a couple decades now. Its pretty easy to build and monitor a plant optimized for weapons production vs power production. They're not remotely similar. Its a hell of a lot easier to turn a pesticide plant into a nerve gas plant than to turn a power plant into a plutonium production plant. Just saying, from a purely technological standpoint its very easy to build an monitor a non-weapons plant. One classic example is there are some "icky" isotopes of plutonium that require weird fuel processing cycles to avoid its formation, its easy to run a plant such that you can't get usable "boom" plutonium out of it. Even stuff like the design of the fuel rods impacts production of energy vs Pu. They are probably lying to us, sure, but technically its possible, easy even, to have a non-proliferation nuke plant.

    • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Wednesday November 01 2017, @02:50AM (3 children)

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @02:50AM (#590342)

      is there any gain to be gotton from just getting -experience- playing with radioactive material?

      even if its not bomb-grade, perhaps there is still things they can learn by going down this path. ie, when they do decide to go serious, some of the background learning would have been done.

      I don't know the subject matter at all - would this apply or not?

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by driverless on Wednesday November 01 2017, @08:45AM (2 children)

        by driverless (4770) on Wednesday November 01 2017, @08:45AM (#590447)

        Not really. Getting uranium up to 3-5% is pretty straightforward, the cascades of ultracentrifuges you need to get to HEU is a very different matter.

        There are also much scarier things you can do with a reactor than use it to breed plutonium. Want to depopulate New York? Create a good quantity of some strong alpha emitter like Po210 and disperse it over the city as an aerosol so it gets into and onto everything. Then announce what you've done, and sit back and watch the mayhem. No-one will ever want to live in NY again no matter how many times you scrub it clean and declare it safe.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @10:13AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @10:13AM (#590470)

          Great, as if we weren't on enough watchlists already :)

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @05:48PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @05:48PM (#590687)

            It is a testament to humanity that we haven't already wiped ourselves off the planet. Came close quite a few times though.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:13AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:13AM (#590369)

      It'll be all subcontracted out to foreign outfits.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:27AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @04:27AM (#590372)

      another neighbor that conquered and took over western civilization.

      Who? When? Wouldn't that mean not more western civ?