SAUDI INVESTMENT AUTHORITY SUPPORTIVE OF A

UNCLAS RIYADH 000183 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, ISN/CTR, ISN/NESS, ISN/RA, AND EEB/ESC/IEC DEPT PLEASE PASS TO NRC (FREELAND) AND NNSA (VAN SICKLE) DEPT PLEASE PASS TO DOE (JONATHAN ELKIND AND JIM HART) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG KNNP PREL SA SUBJECT: SAUDI INVESTMENT AUTHORITY SUPPORTIVE OF A CIVILIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM REF: A. RIYADH 97 ¶B. RIYADH 161 ¶1. (SBU) Representatives from Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) told Econoffs February 10 that SAGIA is very supportive of the development of a civilian nuclear sector in Saudi Arabia. The Vice President for Energy and Economic Cities Development Omar Al-Madhi said Canadian, British, and French consulting firms had approached SAGIA with proposals for civil nuclear projects. What their proposals lack, he said, is a proposal to develop the capacity for future Saudi nuclear scientists, engineers, managers, and plant operators. Chief Strategy Officer Seema Khan said Saudi Arabia is at a turning point in its human capital development and is eager to move away from consultant-dependent economic projects towards projects that increase local capacity. ¶2. (SBU) Econcouns briefed the SAGIA representatives on U.S.-Saudi civil nuclear cooperation to date including the recent civil nuclear delegation visit to the Kingdom (ref B). The SAGIA officials expressed interest in the possible areas of collaboration, and noted that one possibility to accelerate the development of a civilian nuclear program would be to site a nuclear plant in one of the four Economic Cities under development. Al-Madhi noted that SAGIA is the regulatory authority for the Economic Cities, as opposed to the Electricity and Cogeneration Regulatory Authority (ECRA), which would regulate any plants in the rest of Saudi Arabia. SAGIA would be willing to adopt western standard regulatory processes that could "fast track" the development of a plant. ¶3. (SBU) The SAGIA officials confirmed what Ministry of Petroleum officials have recently told Econcouns about several countries actively promoting their interest in building nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia. The Koreans have recently briefed several ministries, noting that they recently won the UAE contract to build up to four plants by ¶2020. Senior Canadian officials have also been actively promoting their companies. SAGIA and Ministry of Petroleum also confirmed that a Saudi inter-ministerial committee is still considering whether to proceed. The Ministry of Petroleum noted that the issue will likely take some time to sort out in part because there is no clear ministry in the lead. SMITH