Saudi Arabia wants to enrich uranium for nuclear power - minister

Saudi Arabia wants to have uranium production and enrichment in future for its planned nuclear power programme that will begin with two atomic reactors, the kingdom's new energy minister said on Monday. "We are proceeding with it cautiously ... we are experimenting with two nuclear reactors," Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at a conference in Abu Dhabi.

Saudi Arabia has said it wants to tap nuclear technology for peaceful uses. But enrichment of uranium is a sensitive step in the nuclear fuel cycle because it can open up the possibility of military uses of the material, the issue at the heart of Western and regional concerns over Iran's atomic work.

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