U.S. dominates Middle East arms market

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_dominates_Middle_East_arms_market_999.html Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UPI) Dec 28, 2010 The United States-dominated defense sales in the Persian Gulf in 2005-09 and delivered 54 percent of the Middle East's military hardware, including advanced systems that had been denied Arab states because of Israeli objections, analysts say. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which monitors global arms sales, said in a recent study that the United Arab Emirates was the largest market for conventional arms in that time frame.
SIPRI reported that U.S. defense companies won 60 percent of contracts by value awarded by the federation of seven emirates, a key oil producer and a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.
Dan Darling, a Middle East defense analyst with the U.S.-based Forecast International, said the United States has consolidated its status as the principal supplier of advanced military systems to the United Arab Emirates, which has emerged a regional military heavyweight.
"The U.S. arms sales to these countries are meant to improve the defense capabilities of the recipient nations, reinforce the sense of U.S. solidarity with its GCC partners and, finally, create a semblance of interoperability with American forces," Darling observed.
"This is noteworthy as France has traditionally been a supplier to the United Arab Emirates, selling them everything from combat aircraft to helicopters to battle tanks."
The United States plans to sell Saudi Arabia, the principal power in the GCC and Iran's main rival for regional leadership, advanced weaponry worth some $67 billion over the next 10 years.
That's the biggest arms deal in U.S. history and it's part of some $123 billion in anticipated arms purchases by the gulf states over the next decade as they build up their military capabilities to counter Iran.
"With the Persian Gulf in flux, the United States is trying to get back into a position where the natural Arab-Persian divide in the region balances itself out," the U.S. global security consultancy Stratfor observed.
"From the U.S. point of view, Iran and Iraq could go on fighting each other for years -- as they did throughout the 1980s -- as long as neither is capable of wiping out the other.
"Right now, Iraq is in far too weak a position and is too wedded to the Iranians to rebuild itself as a useful counter to Iran, so that responsibility is increasingly falling to Iraq's neighbors."
Stratfor, noting the massive U.S. arms package proposed for Saudi Arabia, said the Americans are "investing the years into shaping the Saudi military into an effective force and encouraging the United Arab Emirates to reduce its vulnerabilities to Iran."
The top four nations providing arms to the region after the United States and France are Russia, Britain and China.
Most Russian and Chinese arms deliveries have gone to Iran. Western suppliers don't deal with the Islamic Republic because of international arms embargoes that have been in effect more or less since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
However, Russia still entertains hopes of securing an arms package worth $2 billion-$2.4 billion to Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh proposed a deal involving 150 T-90 main battle tanks, 250 BMP-3 armored personnel carriers and short- and long-range surface-to-air missiles, apparently to persuade Moscow not to sell powerful S-300PMU air-defense missiles to Iran.
Russia announced in June it wouldn't deliver on its $800 million 2007 deal with Tehran.
Israel, which got $2.78 billion in U.S. military aid in 2010, is the region's second largest defense spender. Its main supplier is the United States, which has vowed to maintain Israel's technological superiority.
"Though the U.S. remains sensitive to the potential erosion of Israel's regional qualitative military edge, it has granted major equipment sales to gulf nations in recent years," observed Darling of Forecast International.
These have included advanced the MIM-104 Patriot air-defense system built by the Raytheon Co. and Lockheed Martin GBU-28 "bunker buster" bombs to the emirates, Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow combat helicopters to Saudi Arabia and Lockheed Martin F-16s, Boeing AGM-84 Harpoon and Lockheed AGM-114 Hellfire missiles to Egypt.
GCC defense spending is expected to rise in 2011 by an additional 2.5 percent, Darling reported.
"Over the next five years, the greater Middle East defense market is projected to grow by over 11 percent, reaching nearly $120 billion by 2014," he said.

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UAE Pushes on With Plan for First Nuclear Reactors

ENEC seeks permission to build UAE's first reactors
Emirates Nuclear Energy submitted a license application to United Arab Emirates regulators as part of its plan to build the country's first two nuclear power plants in Braka, Abu Dhabi. The state-owned company will be working with Korea Electric Power to model the facilities after reactors constructed in South Korea. ABC News/The Associated Press

S.Korea must improve offer to win nuke deal: Turkish envoy

Seoul (AFP) Dec 27, 2010 South Korea must make an improved offer if it wants to secure a project to build a Turkish nuclear power plant, the country's ambassador to Seoul said Monday. Erdogan Iscan said negotiations that began in March effectively halted after last month's G20 summit in Seoul, when the two sides failed to settle key differences.
"The plan offered by South Korea did not meet Turkey's expectations," he told Yonhap news agency by phone. The embassy confirmed his comments.
South Korea operates 20 reactors, which generate 30 percent of its electricity needs, and is eager to export its expertise as a new growth engine for the economy.
In December 2009 a South Korean-led consortium won a 20.4 billion dollar contract to build four nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates, and Seoul hoped to cap this with a deal with Ankara.
But the ambassador told Yonhap the price of electricity was one of three or four major sticking points that held up progress, although he did not elaborate.
Iscan said Turkey has not closed the "Korean file" on the bid to build the Sinop nuclear power plant on the Black Sea coast, but has started formal negotiations with Japan.
He said Turkey cannot delay too long since rapid economic growth is causing energy demand to rise by an average four percent every year.
Turkey wants both the Sinop plant and the Akkuyu plant in the south of the country, that was won by Russia, to go into operation in 2018-2020.
Iscan said that if Seoul decides to improve its offer, Ankara will review it as a competitive bid and consider it along with the proposal made by Tokyo.

Japan, S.Korea seal civilian nuclear pact

Japan, S.Korea seal civilian nuclear pact
http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Japan_SKorea_seal_civilian_nuclear_pact_999.html Tokyo (AFP) Dec 20, 2010 Japan and South Korea sealed a civilian nuclear pact on Monday, paving the way for the Asian neighbours to share nuclear-power technologies and equipment, Japan's foreign ministry said. Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and South Korean ambassador to Japan Kwon Chul-Hyun signed the agreement in Tokyo, the ministry said in a statement.
"Japan and South Korea are good partners to promote peaceful use of nuclear power while ensuring nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear energy safety and security," Maehara told the ambassador, quoted in the statement.
Japan and South Korea have been rivals in international biddings for nuclear power plants in emerging nations.
In October Japan secured a contract for building two nuclear reactors in Vietnam while South Korea won a deal in December to build four reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
But under the pact, which will take effect after parliaments of both countries endorse it, mainly Japanese firms with a longer history of developing nuclear power plants are expected to start exporting technologies and equipment to South Korea.
Japan, which was eclipsed this year by China as Asia's biggest economy and has a shrinking population because of its low birth rate, is searching for new markets to export infrastructure technologies, including power plants.
Japan has concluded a bilateral nuclear energy pact with six countries and the European Union while South Korea has a similar deal with 14 states, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

Why are Arabs Racing to Go Nuclear? By Andres Cala

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/6083/Why-are-Arabs-Racing-to-Go-Nuclear

A top US energy official said this week in Riyadh that Saudi Arabia expects to generate nuclear power within 10 years. Egypt will invite tenders for its first nuclear plant later this month. And Kuwait this week not only launched a feasibility study aimed at having nuclear power as early as 2020, it bought a 4.8 percent stake in French Areva, the world’s top reactor supplier.
That follows Jordan’s ongoing march to enrich uranium and to build a power plant and the United Arab Emirates’ years-old program aimed at completing its first nuclear power plant by 2017. Syria is believed to have been working on setting up its own nuclear plant before it was destroyed by Israelis.
Each country is in a different stage and not all will be successful, but few doubt that Arab countries will inevitably join the nuclear power frenzy sooner or later. It’s a question of economics, all countries say pointing to their insufficient power capacity and lack of options. But a driving force is unquestionably Iran’s nuclear program.
“There’s no doubt that there is rising interest in nuclear power in the Middle East,” said Charles K. Ebinger, senior fellow and director of the Energy Security Initiative in the Brookings Institute. “I think the reality is that all these countries will pursue this for energy security reasons. There’s an interest to address power demand and water desalination efforts.”
“But in light of Iranian situation we would be fooling ourselves if we deny there’s not a prospect of another motivation, which is to train their nationals to build weapons of their own if they feel threatened,” Ebinger said.
Most Arab countries have signed cooperation agreements with nuclear powers, including the US, France, Russia, China, South Korea, and Japan. Qatar is also mulling developing a nuclear program, as is Bahrain, and there is ongoing talk to share a regional program in the Gulf Cooperation Council, the six-country alliance in the Persian Gulf.
The need to rapidly boost power capacity is real and there are no alternative sources, other than oil, which is significantly more valuable, sold in international markets, as long as crude prices remain about $80 a barrel, Kuwait estimated. Only Qatar has enough indigenous gas resources.
The UAE and Oman already import gas supplies. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are burning millions of barrels of oil a day to meet demand, and Kuwait already suffers from blackouts. Egypt, which generates three quarters of its power with gas, will deplete its fields in 20 years. Jordan already imports 95 percent of its gas.
The question is whether Arab countries will follow the UAE in signing the so-called 1-2-3 agreements with Washington to access US nuclear technology on the condition that they forego enrichment and reprocessing, the two technologies that could be diverted for military purposes, as many believe Iran is doing.
Under International Atomic Energy Agency treaties, countries have the right to develop uranium enrichment, as long as they sign on to non-proliferation treaties. Egypt, for example, has said it intends to pursue enrichment. Jordan, with huge uranium deposits, said it will do the same in an effort to eventually become a regional supplier.
The more concerning case is Saudi Arabia, the regional powerhouse that rivals Iran. Riyadh recently agreed to buy up to $60 billion worth of American advanced weaponry to counter its enemy’s might. The Wikileaks documents exposed Arab concern over Iran’s nuclear program and support for a military campaign to derail Tehran, contradicting official Arab policy.
Earlier this week U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce Francisco Sanchez said Saudis “seem to be very committed to having civil nuclear as part of what generates energy for them and to do it relatively quickly, like within the next 10 years.” Sanchez said he saw “wonderful opportunities” for American companies, which implies Riyadh would forego enrichment.
But while Saudi Arabia has said they won’t pursue enrichment, they “included enrichment in terms of reference” of a contract signed with the French company helping the country map its nuclear future, said Ebinger.
For the time being, it appears only the UAE and Egypt nuclear power programs are set in stone. Analysts say there is a lot of politics directed at Iran in the Arab march toward nuclear power. “I think there’s that message implied that they will not fall behind. They are saying they will not fall behind technologically and they will keep their weapons issue open,” Ebinger said.

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South Korea bids for Lithuania nuclear project

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/South_Korea_bids_for_Lithuania_nuclear_project_999.html Seoul (AFP) Nov 17, 2010 South Korea's state energy firm said Wednesday it was seeking to build a nuclear reactor in Lithuania, in the country's latest move to export its atomic expertise. Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) has submitted a bid for the project at Visaginas and expects the preferred bidder to be announced next month, a spokesman said.
He could not say how much the contract was worth or who else was in the running.
An international consortium led by KEPCO last December won a 20.4-billion-dollar deal to build four nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates.
South Korea, which generates 40 percent of its power needs from nuclear plants, is also actively seeking projects elsewhere.
Last month it signed a nuclear power cooperation agreement with South Africa and reached a similar deal with Poland last August. South Korean firms are to build a research reactor in Jordan.
But a deal to construct a nuclear plant in northern Turkey is being held up by disagreement over terms.

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Emirates seek alternative oil export route

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Emirates_seek_alternative_oil_export_route_999.html Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UPI) Nov 18, 2010 Amid continuing fears that Iran may seek to close the choke point Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, a vital oil artery for the world, the United Arab Emirates is seeking alternative export routes for its oil. The federation opened a naval base Oct. 20 at Fujairah on its east coast, south of the entrance to the strait in the Gulf of Oman.
It will play a key role in plans to construct an overland route from Abu Dhabi, the emirate that contains more than 90 percent of the federation's oil, to the sea without using the narrow, horseshoe-shaped strait.
Abu Dhabi is reported to be building two pipelines -- one for oil, the other for natural gas -- across the desert to Fujairah, where it plans to construct a huge export terminal and an oil storage facility.
"A naval base in Fujairah will give the emirates more capabilities to protect its economic zone and its strategic facilities, the port down there which will be a major point of export for oil and gas," said Riad Kahwaji, director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai.
Tehran has threatened several times to close the strait if the United States or Israel launches pre-emptive attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities. This could be done by sinking large ships to block the waterway, in airstrikes or missile attacks, or by placing sea mines.
On a typical day, around 15 tankers carrying up to 17 million barrels of oil and oil products, along with dozens of freighters, pass through the strait -- two-fifths of the world's oil supply.
This comprises most of the oil and liquefied natural gas exported by Saudi Arabia, the emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, as well as Iran and those from southern Iraq.
Going the other way, the Gulf Cooperation Council states -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain -- import most of their food and consumer goods through the strait and a prolonged shutdown would cause serious economic and social disruption.
The gulf region holds 55 percent of the world's known oil reserves. So a prolonged closure of the 112-mile strait, whose eastern shore is controlled by Iran, would send oil prices soaring, causing a global economic shockwave.
"If this chokepoint was closed for an extended period, the economies of the Middle East would suffer significantly and this would generate severe economic dislocation around the world," Jane's Intelligence Review reported recently.
"Millions of guest workers in gulf states from developing countries could also be left unemployed, leading to greater poverty in South Asia and East Asia."
This would undoubtedly send oil prices

soaring from the current level of around $80 per barrel to the peak of nearly $150 it hit in 2007-08, possibly to even more crippling levels.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that if the strait were closed, only about 3 million barrels of oil per day could realistically be redirected through Saudi Arabia through a trans-Arabian pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu on the kingdom's west coast.
There would no other way to transport the 31 million tons a year of LNG -- 18 percent of world consumption -- that Qatar and the emirates export.
However, the emirates and Saudi Arabia are planning to construct a major rail network across the peninsula that would allow them to move oil and gas exports overland to the west to the Red Sea or north through Iraq to Turkey to join the European energy grid, as well as to bring in imports.
"The first of these projects," a north-south minerals rail link, "is now only weeks from completion," the Middle East Economic Survey reported this week.
Even if a closure of the strait was relatively short, in the order of several weeks, the economic impact would still be substantial, magnified by the global economic crisis.
"Extended closure of the strait would remove roughly a quarter of the world's oil from the market, causing a supply shock of the type not seen since the glory days of OPEC," Caitlin Talmadge of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, warned in a mid-2008 assessment.

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UAE Ambassador to IAEA pursues development of nuclear energy

By Dan Yurman
"In December 2009, the United Arab Emirates awarded a $20 billion contract to a consortium of South Korean firms to build four nuclear reactors on a remote desert location along the Persian Gulf. The consortium, led by state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), is committed to having the first reactor in revenue service by 2017. The change from fossil (natural gas) to uranium as a fuel source comes not a moment too soon as the UAE is now a net importer of gas for electricity generation and desalinization."  More at:
http://ansnuclearcafe.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/uae-ambassador-to-iaea-pursues-development-of-nuclear-energy/

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UAE Missile Deal Worth 140 Million Announced from Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/UAE_Missile_Deal_Worth_140_Million_Announced_999.htmlWashington DC (SPX) Nov 11, 2010
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress November 3 of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of the United Arab Emirates of 100 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and 60 Low Cost Reduced-Range Practice Rockets (LCRRPR), as well as associated equipment, training and logistical support for a total package worth approximately $140 million.

Fifty Years of OPEC - East Asia Forum

A little noticed anniversary celebrated in September was that of 50 years of the existence of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).  Despite the muted fanfare, its establishment led to fundamental changes in the global economic and political orders that remain critical today.
http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2010/10/27/fifty-years-of-opec/

Saudis Interested in Russian Nuclear Power

Saudi Arabia will discuss a nuclear power deal with Russia, the official Saudi Press Agency said after a Cabinet meeting Monday.
The Cabinet authorized the head of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy to sign a draft accord, it said. The countries plan to cooperate in the “peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” it said.
Saudi Arabia is one of several Gulf Arab countries seeking to develop nuclear energy to meet electricity demand that’s rising at about 8 percent a year. The United Arab Emirates awarded a $20 billion contract in December to a group of companies led by Korea Electric Power to build four nuclear plants, and Kuwait plans to build four reactors by 2022.
Saudi Arabia held talks with international companies to build its first nuclear and renewable energy city, said Khalid al-Sulaiman, vice president for renewable energy at the city, speaking in Jeddah on Oct. 4. The city has engaged 14 architectural and design houses.

South Korea: A rising Nuclear star

from Pimagazine Asia news feed

In January, a South Korean consortium beat the world's biggest nuclear plant builder, France's Areva, to win a US$20-billion ($26-billion) contract to supply four reactors to the United Arab Emirates. It was South Korea's first overseas order. In 20 years' time, South Korea aims to become the world's third-largest nuclear plant exporter. Currently, France, the US, Canada, Japan and Russia are the biggest exporters of atomic generators. What are the secrets to South Korea's nuclear success thus far? According to Mr Scott Peterson, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a key to South Korea's success is using standardised reactors. The country's use of "the same reactor design since 1985" has contributed to its "reducing the time for construction - from 64 months in 1995, to 47 months now, and South Korea is aiming for 39 months", said Mr Peter-son. It has also reduced construction cost by 30 per cent, he added. In its bold expansion plans, "the best chance for South Korea will come in new nuclear countries, for example Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Middle East countries", Mr Steve Kidd, director of strategy and research at the World Nuclear Association, said in an interview early this year. Venessa Lee

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KEPCO wins power plant deal from UAE

• Korea Electric Power, Sumitomo score $1.5B deal for U.A.E. project
  The Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority has awarded Korea Electric Power and Sumitomo a $1.5 billion contract for construction and operation of a nuclear plant in the United Arab Emirates. The facility will be capable of producing 1,600 megawatts when it becomes operational in March 2014, KEPCO said. The Korea Herald (Seoul)http://www.koreaherald.com/business/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20101018000922

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One month delay in launching Bushehr power plant: nuclear official

from Pimagazine Asia news feed

October 17, 2010 Tehran Times Political Desk TEHRAN – The launch of Bushehr nuclear power plant is delayed one month due to some minor technical problems, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Deputy Director Mohammad Ahmadian has said. “After inspection, we made sure that we are not faced with any serious problem, but there are some minor problems including a small leak in a pool in the middle of the reactor which was fixed,”

 

Ahmadian told IRNA in an interview published on Saturday.“It takes one month to fix these minor problems, so unfortunately there will be one month delay in the transfer of fuel rods into the reactor core,” he added

 

.On September 11, Iran’s Nuclear Chief Ali Akbar Salehi announced that nuclear fuel will be loaded into the core of the Bushehr reactor at the beginning of the Iranian calendar month of Mehr (September 23 to October 22), and afterwards, the Bushehr nuclear power plant will begin operation

 

.Salehi also said the nuclear plant will be able to produce electricity in the Iranian calendar month of Azar (November 22 to December 21).The plant, located near the port of Bushehr on the coast of the Persian Gulf, will produce 1000 megawatts of electricity once all the fuel rods are loaded into the core of the reactor

 

.The Bushehr reactor may save Iran 11 million barrels of crude oil or 1.8 billion cubic meters of gas per year, the London-based World Nuclear Association has estimated.The plant will also put Iran at least a decade ahead of more prosperous Middle Eastern neighbors such as the United Arab Emirates, which plans to build four nuclear plants by 2020.

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World Citizen: Arabs States Building Arsenal for War With Iran

The magnitude of the weapons purchases is nothing short of astounding and the speed at which they are accelerating is breathtaking. Consider how fast the orders are growing: Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, bought $37 billion worth of U.S. weapons in the last four years, with the majority of the purchases coming in just the last two years. And the deals already under negotiation for the next four years are expected to total $123 billion. Those numbers don't include arms purchases from countries other than the U.S.

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Kepco, Turkey Are in Final Stage of Talks on Construction of Nuclear Plant

• Nuclear talks between Korea Electric, Turkey near conclusion
• Korea Electric Power Corp., which won an $18.6 billion atomic reactor order from the United Arab Emirates in December, is in the final stage of talks with Turkey for the construction of a nuclear power station.
  A consortium led by Korea Electric will invest in the project, Chief Executive Officer Kim Ssang Su told lawmakers today in Seoul.
  The Turkish government may take a stake of 60 percent in the company that will build the country’s second nuclear power station, Sabah newspaper reported on Oct. 4, without saying how it got the information.
  Korea Electric is proposing to take the remaining share and will raise 70 percent of the estimated $20 billion cost through loans, the Istanbul-based newspaper reported.
  Korea Electric is also seeking to build nuclear power plants in India and Malaysia and considers South Africa, Thailand, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as potential markets, the Seoul-based company said in a report to lawmakers today.
  State-run Korea Electric beat General Electric Co. and Areva SA to win an order to build four reactors in the U.A.E. The company signed an agreement in March with the Turkish government to study construction of a plant in Sinop, northeast of Ankara.
   

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South Korea Plans to Lend $10 Billion for U.A.E. Nuclear Plants

U.A.E. nuclear project may get $10B loan from South Korea
Korea Electric Power may secure a $10 billion loan from Export-Import Bank of Korea for the construction of four 1,400-megawatt nuclear facilities in the United Arab Emirates, said Heung-Sik Min, the bank's main representative in Dubai. "The U.A.E. nuclear project will be the bank's first for such a huge amount," he said during an interview. Bloomberg

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Nuclear Consistency: As Easy as 1-2-3?

Charles K. Ebinger, Director, Energy Security Initiative
Govinda Avasarala, Research Assistant, Energy Security Initiative

The Brookings Institution

September 23, 2010 —

In the international civilian nuclear arena, it appears that the Orwellian maxim applies: all states are equal, but some are more equal than others. In early August the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States and Vietnam are in advanced negotiations for a civilian nuclear cooperation accord, also known as a “123” agreement. By all accounts, the agreement under discussion would not impinge upon Vietnam’s right to enrich uranium, a process that is required to create new reactor fuel, but one that also confers the key ability to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons. The deal follows hard on the heels of the Bush administration’s famous (or infamous) 123 agreement with India that allowed a non-signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to continue domestic enrichment and reprocessing while enjoying the benefits of civilian nuclear trade with the United States.

Ignoring the proliferation concerns present in an opaque Indian nuclear system or an embryonic Vietnamese program, what is most troublesome is the government’s rationale for permitting enrichment in Vietnam. According to Philip Crowley, State Department assistant secretary for public affairs, “if Vietnam chooses, exercising its right under the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] to enrichment, that is a decision for them to make. It’s not a decision for the United States to make.”
While Mr. Crowley is correct in citing the NPT—Article IV of the treaty declares the “inalienable right” for each country to pursue nuclear energy—his literal interpretation appears in stark contrast to the U.S. attitude to aspirant civilian nuclear states in the Middle East. The recent 123 agreement with the United Arab Emirates, which is on a fast-track to building a nuclear energy program, precludes enrichment and reprocessing. The UAE’s concessions were based on the grounds that the U.S. will not enter into a more lenient 123 agreement with any other nation in the Middle East. The hard line in the UAE deal with regard to enrichment is also evident in the Obama administration’s attitude to Jordan, a steadfast ally that signed the NPT in 1968, despite recently discovering abundant domestic reserves of natural uranium.
This unconcealed double-standard creates two problems: first, it makes it difficult for this administration, which has taken admirable steps to engage the countries in the Middle East, to show that it is not talking out of both sides of its mouth. Second, it undermines the administration’s condemnation of the nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan, despite the latter’s egregious proliferation record.
The Obama administration would be better served by adopting a singular nuclear energy cooperation policy. While some may dismiss such a stance as impeding necessary diplomatic flexibility, for a topic as sensitive as nuclear energy and non-proliferation, in regions as tumultuous as the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, unwavering principles are a good thing.

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Lawmaker questions Kuwait's nuclear energy plans

A Kuwaiti lawmaker on Thursday questioned plans by the oil-rich Gulf emirate to build a number of nuclear reactors for power generation and demanded information about the expected costs. In a series of questions to Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the head of parliament's financial and economic affairs panel, Yussef al-Zalzalah, asked if sufficient studies have been made on the issue.
He also demanded to know the size of the budget allocated for the project and what has been spent so far.
In its drive to develop nuclear energy for peaceful use, particularly to generate electricity, the Gulf state set up Kuwait National Nuclear Energy Committee (KNENEC) in 2009 headed by the prime minister.
The emirate has signed memoranda of cooperation with France, the United States, Japan and Russia and, in April, upgraded its deal with France to the level of a full agreement.
KNNEC secretary general Ahmad Bishara said earlier this month that Kuwait will sign a fifth memorandum of cooperation with South Korea, which last year clinched a multi-billion-dollar deal with the neighbouring United Arab Emirates.
Zalzalah also inquired about press statements that Kuwait planned to build four 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors by 2022, and if sufficient studies were made, and demanded documents related to the issue.
Kuwait's deals with the nuclear powers call for preparation, planning and nuclear power development which include training, human resources and infrastructure.
Bishara has said Kuwait expects electricity demand to double in 10 to 15 years from the current 11,000 megawatts, which would make the country face a serious power shortage.
The OPEC member currently burns 12 percent of its oil production to meet local electricity needs, and the figure will rise to 20 percent by 2030 if no alternative sources of energy are found, Bishara said.
Kuwait currently pumps around 2.3 million barrels of oil per day.
If the nuclear plans proceed as projected, Bishara estimated nuclear power would meet 15-20 percent of Kuwait's total electricity needs.
KNNEC is conducting a series of studies on the cost of power generation by nuclear energy, setting up legal frameworks, reviews on potential sites for nuclear reactors and human resources, Bishara said.
These studies are expected to be completed before the end of the year, and then the KNNEC will make the decision if Kuwait is to go nuclear, he said.

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Russia expands Middle East nuke presence

Moscow (UPI) Sep 22, 2010 Russia and Kuwait have signed a five-year nuclear cooperation agreement. The memorandum of understanding between the Kuwait National Nuclear Energy Committee and Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation was signed in Vienna on the sidelines of the 54th session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Robsbalt news agency reported Wednesday.
Earlier this month Kuwait signed a similar agreement with Japan, along with an April memorandum with France.
Kuwait state media quoted Ahmad Bishara, the secretary general of Kuwait's National Nuclear Energy

Committee as saying, "The memo ... stipulated training cadres, exploration for metals, establishing a network of nuclear reactors in Kuwait and building a relevant infrastructure."
Earlier this month Kuwait announced that it intends to construct four 1,000-megawatt atomic energy reactors over the next decade. Kuwait is currently the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, while Russia is tied with Saudi Arabia for first place.
Rosatom Director General Sergey Kirienko said that Russia stands ready to assist Kuwait in all aspects of developing its civil nuclear power program, not only in the construction of nuclear power stations, but exploration and mining of uranium, training of personnel and research.
The MoU will also cover nuclear medicine and the nuclear fuel cycle. Kirienko said, "We in Russia are developing the atomic energy sector on a wide scale and we welcome Kuwait's plans to develop it, too."
Kirienko added that Russia is actively cooperating with several states in the Middle East, with Rosatom bidding to build a nuclear power plant in Jordan along with submitting a tender to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt. Rosatom has also signed an intergovernmental civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Bahrain and is actively developing its nuclear cooperation with the United Arab Emirates.
Russia is also increasing its nuclear energy footprint in Turkey. Rosatom Deputy Director General for Finance and Economics Nikolai Solomon, speaking at the World Nuclear Association's annual symposium in London last week, said Russia was pressing on with a multibillion-dollar deal on a build-own-operate agreement with Ankara to build the country's first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu near the country's Mediterranean coast.
Under the BOO arrangement Russia's Atomstroiekhsport will own 100 percent of the Akkuyu project, owning, operating and maintaining the facility and selling its electrical output under a deal with the Turkish government to guarantee plant's power supply for a 15-20 year period.
The Akkuyu nuclear power plant will be Russia's first built and owned foreign power plant, with construction expected to take several years.