Share By Melissa Pistilli-Exclusive to Uranium Investing News

In the most recent nuclear power developments out of the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the world’s third largest oil exporter, signed a $40 billion agreement with a South Korean consortium headed by state-owned KEPCO on Sunday. The deal involves help constructing and operating four nuclear reactors capable of producing 5,600 MW of electricity.

The other members of the consortium include Westinghouse Electric, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung C&T Corp and Doosan Heavy Industries.

Construction on the new reactors, the first in the region, will commence in 2012 and begin supplying power by 2017 and are expected to be fully completed by 2020.

The UAE anticipates domestic electricity demand to rise from 15,000 MW in 2008 to 40,000 MW in 2020 and has said it will need to build more nuclear plants down the road.

The move to nuclear power generation will allow the UAE to export more of its oil resources to the world as well as the electricity it generates to its neighbours.

“With the nuclear project on its way now and other reactors expected to come, the UAE will be able to both meet domestic demand and have excess to export both electricity and oil,” said Vincent Nkong Njock, IAEA nuclear power engineer and consultant on the UAE project.

As both energy demand and the desire for cleaner alternatives increases all over the world, nations are turning to nuclear power. The World Nuclear Association (WNA) has said that 53 reactors are now under construction with another 136 in the planning stages. The WNA projects about 430 new nuclear plants will be needed by 2030 to meet rising demand.

While China may be home to the most civilian nuclear plants currently under construction, many countries in the Middle East are looking to develop nuclear power projects. In the last eighteen months close to 20 agreements and memorandums of understanding on nuclear cooperation have been signed between Middle Eastern nations and countries with nuclear technological expertise including Canada, France, Russia and the US.

Algeria has plans to construct its first civilian nuclear plant by 2020 with additional plants every five years after, energy minister Chakin Khelil said earlier this year. Jordan plans to build a nuclear plant by 2017. Egypt inked an agreement this June with an Australian consultancy and Kuwait met with France’s Areva earlier this year. Libya is working out a deal with Russia. And Saudia Arabia has been negotiating agreements with France, the US and Russia.

There are, of course, international concerns about the serious threat posed by nuclear proliferation and these concerns are most amplified over Iran’s supposed civilian nuclear program, which, with Russia’s help, is expected to launch its first nuclear power plant in March of next year.

Since the 1990′s, the Middle East region has been on the watch list of Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty nations. Given this tense environment, the UAE has pledged to import nuclear fuel in lieu of manufacturing its own and has signed an agreement with the US.

Upcoming international meetings concerning the nuclear sector and the Middle East region include the 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference in New York during the month of May, and the Middle East Nuclear Energy Summit in Amman, Jordan March 21-24.

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