Daily Management Review

Experts: Saudi Arabia has enough uranium to create nuclear weapon


09/18/2020


Saudi Arabia's uranium reserves are estimated at about 90 thousand tons. This is enough to work on the nuclear program, writes The Guardian newspaper with reference to the report, which the journalists managed to get acquainted with.



(c) 2012 Clemens Vasters
(c) 2012 Clemens Vasters
"The publication of such data will heighten concerns that Riyadh may be interested in working on a nuclear weapons program," the newspaper writes.

The report was prepared by geologists from China. They worked for a year in Saudi Arabia under the agreement of the two parties on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy. As a result, they managed to discover at least three deposits located in the central part of the country and in the northwest.

They estimated the uranium reserves in these deposits at about 90 thousand tons. It is noted that this estimate is approximate and should be clarified, which requires additional research.

For its part, the publication writes that this amount of uranium in Saudi Arabia will be enough to obtain nuclear fuel for reactors, and the country will be able to export its surplus.

Experts interviewed by The Guardian said that if Saudi Arabia can mine enough uranium domestically, rather than relying on foreign suppliers, it could give it a boost to build its own nuclear program.

The newspaper also notes that it failed to verify the accuracy of the data presented in the report. It was compiled by the Beijing Uranium Geology Research Institute and the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) in collaboration with the Saudi Geological Survey.

According to the information presented in it, China began work in 2017 at nine different sites identified as promising uranium deposits, and completed them at the end of last year.

source: theguardian.com