Nuclear energy talks with South Korea under way

Officials from King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE) and the South Korean embassy held talks here this week on nuclear energy projects.

Waleed Husain Abu Alfaraj, K.A.CARE vice president, met with South Korean Ambassador Kim Jin-soo at the K.A.CARE headquarters. “They held a follow up meeting on Tuesday to discuss cooperation on atomic and renewable energy between the two countries,” Juho Song, commercial attaché at the South Korean Embassy, told Arab News on Thursday.
The K.A.CARE media department stated that Alfaraj highlighted the importance of maximizing the cooperation agreement signed between the two countries earlier this year.
“The South Korean ambassador highly appreciated the responsible role being played by the Kingdom to benefit from atomic and renewable energy in all areas including the production of electricity, water desalination and other programs for peaceful purposes,” it added.
Saudi engineers have already received training on atomic energy held by Korean experts in the Kingdom and South Korea. South Korea expressed its willingness, during President Park Geun-hye’s Kingdom visit earlier this year, to cooperate in building small and medium reactors.
South Korea is building four nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates under a $40 billion contract signed in 2009. The deal marked South Korea’s first export of its nuclear reactors. The Kingdom will be second in line if the deal goes ahead.
K.A.CARE is working closely with the Ministry of Transport, Saudi Electricity Company, Saudi Wildlife Authority and the directorate-general of military survey to achieve its Vision 2032 program, which aims to replace 50 percent of the country’s dependence on traditional fossil fuel with eco-friendly atomic and renewable energy.
K.A.CARE recently collaborated with the International Institute of Nuclear Energy, a French government initiative, to bring together the leading universities and engineering schools to train Saudi engineering graduates.
The Kingdom is also working with Japan and Finland.