Russian state-owned nuclear group Rosatom has passed two qualifying steps to participate in a tender to build a 2.8 GW nuclear power plant in Saudi Arabia. In 2015, Russia and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to cooperate on nuclear energy development; two years later, the two parties entered into a “program of cooperation” on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Saudi Arabia aims at diversifying its energy mix so that it could export more crude oil instead of burning it to generate electricity. The country plans to build up to 17.6 GW of nuclear capacity (i.e. around 16 reactors) by 2032. The first nuclear plant is expected to be built by 2027 for an estimated budget of US$12bn. It will have two reactors with a combined installed capacity of 2.8 GW. In January 2019, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) received offers from five countries - the United States, Russia, France, South Korea, and China - to build the first two nuclear plants on the Gulf coast. The government plans to select a project developer by 2021.
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