By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : Saudi Arabia is planning to build 16 nuclear reactors by 2030, Arab media reported Wednesday citing an official in the country’s nuclear agency.
“After 10 years we will have the first two reactors,” Saudi civilian nuclear agency coordinator Abdul Ghani Malibari told Arab News.
The estimated cost of one reactor is about seven billion dollars, he added.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the first Arab state to adopt a plan for building nuclear power stations on its territory.
In 2009, the UAE signed a $20.4 billion cooperation deal with a South Korean consortium, including Korea Electric Power Corp, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung C&T Corp and Doosan Heavy Industries to build nuclear reactors in the UAE.
Many countries have turned away from atomic energy following the accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant after the devastating magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami March 11.
Germany said earlier this week that it would shut down all of its nuclear plants by 2020.