UAE steps up nuclear ambition
GCC-state to set up nuclear agency
Posted: 24 March 2008
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Opec-member United Arab Emirates has decided to set up a nuclear body to assess and develop its peaceful nuclear energy program, the cabinet made the announcement on Sunday, according to the UAE news agency WAM.
The decision to establish Nuclear Energy Implementation Organization (Nepio) makes UAE the first GCC country to develop nuclear energy as proposed earlier by neigbouring states.
 The implementation body as recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agnecy (IAEA) will evaluate and potentially realise the ‘transparent’ nuclear energy programme within the UAE. It also marks the beginning of nuclear realisation in the region.
The body will be set up with an initial capital of Dh 375 million ($100 million) which goes after the UAE signed in agreement with France to help develop the program in January.
“Peaceful nuclear power-generation represents an environmentally promising and commercially competitive option which could make a significant contribution to the UAE's economy and future energy security,” said Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a statement according to state news agency.
Highlighting its peaceful means, the cabinet stressed complete operational transparency, pursuing the highest standards of non-proliferation, highest standards of safety and security commitment, regional alliance, and sustainability.
Under the agreement, the UAE will not enrich uranium but will import the key substance from a “trusted foreign source.”
Governments have recently proposed nuclear energy as a possible replacement for hydrocarbon resources, allowing for more oil and gas to be exported.
According to experts, developing nuclear legally is a very long-term process, which involves getting the license, supervision, and all the environmental requirements.
“It is the first step,” according to Mustafa Alani, political analyst at the Gulf Research Center. In an earlier interview he told Pipeline that the research programme such as this body will help lot in assessing the necessity to develop an actual programme.
“Research programme is important because any country in the Gulf does not have department of nuclear physics in any university. The only one in the Arab world which has it is Iraq. But the department closed after 1991 under the Security Council.”
UAE, which holds the world’s fifth-largest oil reserves and the world’s sixth-largest oil exporter, is joining other countries in the Gulf and other countries in Middle East and North Africa region to address energy security and diversification.
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