The President of King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KKACARE) Dr. Hashim Abdullah Yamani, declared that the Council of Ministers, guided and inspired by the sagacious vision and Directives of the Leadership in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Council of Ministers has recently issued its all-important recent Decision on Monday addressing the issue of diversification of energy resources in the Kingdom.
Motivated further by the recent Decision, and being bent on adherence to the Kingdom’s sagacious, robust and deeply-rooted strategies, KACARE is unyieldingly paying much attention to atomic energy as it is an essential technology for many peaceful applications, topped by electric power generation and water desalination. The hoped for net result will be, God willing, uplifting the standard of services provided, favorably contributing to the wellbeing and commonweal of Saudi citizens, and eventually enhancing sustainable development of the Kingdom. With all this in mind, the atomic energy peaceful uses are being promoted, taking into account the fact that it is of paramount importance to follow the best practices and safety measures generally accepted in this industry, while strictly observing the principles and provisions of the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), and complying with transparency highest standards in the application of the IAEA’s Safeguards.
The said Decision came in full support of the endeavors and efforts exerted to complete the requirements of the Kingdom’s atomic energy program. To this end, the Council of Ministers ruled that a Permanent Committee be constituted within KACARE, in collaboration with and participation of specialists from other concerned agencies. The Committee will assume the responsibility of the unification and coordination of practices and measures to be taken by those participating agencies in full execution of the agreement concluded between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the IAEA on the application of the safeguards required by the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Dr. Yamani added that KACARE is endeavoring to complete the requirements of the Nations’ nuclear program. This is being pursued through building up the necessary infrastructures, including legal and regulatory frameworks, while working hard to strengthen and deepen regional and international cooperation with utmost transparency. Dr. Yamani reminded further that “considering the fact that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a party to the Non-proliferation Treaty signed on 1 July 1968, and that it is an IAEW member, hence,……….. with all these considerations in mind, an Agreement was concluded on 16 June 2005 between the Kingdom and the IAEA on the application of Safeguards as set forth under the NPT. Since the small beginnings of the agreement Dr. Yamani added, the execution thereof has been limited to the so-called approached, “small quantities”. It was so owing to the fact that applications related to the atomic energy peaceful uses have been limited in the Kingdom. Now that the Kingdom has commenced its ambitious and promising atomic program, that dictates that the Kingdom switch over from the small-quantities approach to the full-fledged application which should further enhance the Kingdom’s program and enable the Kingdom to acquire its needs from nuclear technologies and, hence, to broaden and deepen its cooperation and participation with the international society. All these endeavors and efforts have been crowned by the Decision of the esteemed Council of Ministers.”
