Saudi Arabia: We will enrich and sell uranium and produce “yellowcake”
Saudi Arabia: We will enrich and sell uranium and produce “yellowcake”
2025-01-13 06:12
Shafaq News/ Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced on Monday that the Kingdom will enrich uranium, sell it, and produce what is known as yellowcake.
During a conference held in Dhahran, bin Salman said that his country seeks to generate revenues from all minerals, including uranium, noting that the Kingdom will enrich uranium, sell it, and produce what is known as yellowcake, referring to a concentrated powder of uranium free of impurities used to make uranium fuel for nuclear reactors. This material requires safe processing but poses only a small radiation risk.
Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear program that it wants to expand eventually to include uranium enrichment, a thorny issue because enrichment is essential to making nuclear weapons. Riyadh has said it wants to use nuclear power to diversify its energy sources.
The kingdom has not set a ceiling on its nuclear ambitions, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman saying in 2018 that the kingdom would develop nuclear weapons if Iran did. Last year, it announced a plan to end limited monitoring of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency and move to full implementation of the safeguards agreement by the end of 2024.
Riyadh has yet to operate its first nuclear reactor, allowing its program to remain monitored only under the Small Quantities Protocol, an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that exempts less advanced nuclear states from many reporting and inspection obligations.
shafaq.com
