Riyadh: Saudi Arabia is not considering developing an atomic energy programme, even as neighbouring oil producers pursue nuclear plants to meet power demand and diversify domestic energy sources.
"We are ruling out nuclear energy for now," Mohammad Salim Surour Al Sabban, who also heads Saudi's United Nations climate negotiations, said in an interview in Riyadh yesterday.
"We are joining the International Renewable Energy Agency and we will focus on solar energy as a renewable."
Saudi Arabia aims to boost solar energy projects and export electricity from such plants, Al Sabban said.
The world's biggest oil producer is short of natural gas to fuel power plants and uses more expensive fuel oil for domestic electricity generation.
The UAE, the fourth- biggest oil producer in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), awarded a $20 billion (Dh73.4 billion) contract last month to a group led by Korea Electric Power Corporation to build four nuclear plants as growing infrastructure uses up domestic gas supplies.
Iran, the biggest Opec producer after Saudi Arabia, says it is also pursuing nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, while the United States and its allies suspect it is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.
