Saudi Arabia has signed a bilateral agreement with South Korea for cooperation on the development of nuclear energy. The agreement is part of the Kingdom's efforts to diversify its energy mix to meet rising power demand. Hashim Abdullah Yamani, President of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy, and Kim Sung-hwan, South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, signed the agreement in Seoul, according to a statement received by e-mail from King Abdullah City, Tuesday. The agreement calls for cooperation in research and development, including building nuclear power plants and research reactors, as well as training, safety and waste management, said the statement. This is the third nuclear agreement Saudi Arabia has signed following similar deals with France and Argentina. The city, established in 2010, also said it is currently in talks with China, Russia, Czech Republic, Britain and the United States to negotiate “further cooperation”. Although it sits on the world's largest oil reserves, Saudi Arabia is struggling to keep up with rapidly rising power demand expected to triple by 2032 requiring additional energy plants with total installed power production capacity of around 80 gigawatts (GW). The Kingdom plans to turn to solar and eventually nuclear energy to reduce its need to burn fuel oil for electricity and preserve oil for lucrative export markets. It may build up to 16 nuclear power reactors by 2030, an official at King Abdullah City said in June. South Korea has 21 reactors in operation with nuclear power accounting for 31.3 percent as of end-2010, according to latest data from the government. In December 2009, the UAE awarded a South Korean consortium a contract to build four nuclear power plants worth $20.4 billion.
