Scrambling to sell a nuclear Middle East
By M.V. Ramana, Zia Mian | January 2, 2016
The leading international vendors of nuclear power reactors are competing hard to sell to the Middle East as markets dry up at home. Companies from France, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States, often tied to respective governments or backed by them, have been pursuing reactor deals in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, in some cases building on legacies left over from Cold War Atoms for Peace programs. Aggressive government-backed vendors and financing options to reduce the enormous up-front capital costs of modern reactors have combined with nuclear ambitions in some Middle East states to create a troubling momentum that threatens the hopes for well-being and peace in the region.
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Issue: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Volume 72 Issue 1
Keywords: Areva, China, General Electric, Iran, Jordan, Middle East, Rosatom, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Westinghouse, energy policy, nuclear power, proliferation, reactor vendors, solar energy
Topics: Nuclear Energy
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M.V. Ramana
M.V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security and a professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs,... Read More
