JEDDAH: Gulf Cooperation Council countries were urged to consider alternative energy instead of peaceful nuclear energy amid perceived high risks the latter entails, Saudi economic and financial analyst Omar Al Juraifani said. Al Juraifani is the co-founder and member of the Asharqia Chamber Young Businessmen Executive Council. He was also a member in Arabian Society for Human Resource Management and still a member in Trump University and Project Management Institute. "Saudi Arabia will spend $100 billion to build reactors according to resources. I think that the level of risks in such projects will be very high in all criteria. Spending this amount on solar energy projects will be relatively safer compared with nuclear energy which is a time bomb that could explode at any time, as what happened in Japan, the country of technological and industrial development," he pointed out Al Juraifani added: "The GCC countries are in need of power and water, with multi-billion dollars worth of projects have been announced to meet this demand. The GCC states have commenced linking their countries through the GCC network which will be linked to Europe in the future, as part of the global trend toward integration in strategic projects. As the mounting demand for energy is guaranteed, there will be once again a need for the private sector involvement to support the expected growth process." Observers estimate the cost of producing one kilowatt of solar energy in Saudi Arabia at 10-12 halalas, imposing a real challenge to investments that are trying to offer less than this figure. They affirmed that upon calculating the value of oil used to produce the needed energy in the Kingdom and the GCC countries, the importance of using these revenues in developing alternative energy technologies will be realized. Saudi Arabia the GCC countries must lead the way in these technologies, observers said. Saudi Arabia intends to join the nuclear energy club used for peaceful purposes as part of its economic programs which focus on developing this sector and activating its role in raising the rate of GDP. According to a top official, Saudi Arabia plans to build 16 nuclear power reactors by 2030, in cooperation with international experts, Al Juraifani said. The reactors will be permanently based at King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), which was established in 2011. Saudi Arabia, along with many other GCC states, including the UAE, has been making significant strides in this important area, in response to the current global economic situation since mid-2008, the rising risks concluded from a study that confirmed the region's natural energy resources are nearing depletion and the urgent need to modernize the economic systems to push the wheel of sustainable development forward to serve the development process. Al Juraifani noted that the future plans to use the nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in the GCC countries are now at stake, following the recent explosion at a nuclear reactor in Japan, in the aftermath of a destructive earthquake that hit the country, resulting in fatalities, injuries and economic and political damages including the suspension of exporting various products such as motors from Japan to the GCC, forcing countries to review their plans to produce nuclear energy. Moreover, Germany, one of the world's technological and industrial giants, plans to phase all nuclear power plants in the country by 2010, a decision that was a hot topic of conversation in the economic communities, as the country will lose multi-billion of euros spent on nuclear energy projects, in addition to the loss of the accumulated experience to avoid the risks associated with using nuclear reactors.
