Saudi Arabia's nuclear plant designed for training scientists: CNN

A CNN report has revealed new details about Saudi Arabia’s first nuclear plant, saying it is a small, experimental nuclear reactor which is designed for training scientists.

Progress on the site under construction at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh has been confirmed by satellite imagery.

Former director for inspections at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Robert Kelley described progress on the reactor as “expeditious”, saying it could be operational within “nine months to a year.”

The next phase, however, would require intensive international inspections.

"They've been exempt for 30 years since they signed a non-proliferation treaty," said Kelley. "Now they're going to have to make some serious paperwork and agree to inspections" if they want to acquire nuclear fuel.

He further downplayed concerns that the reactor in Riyadh could be used to create a nuclear weapon, telling CNN that it would take a century to enrich enough plutonium.

“It’s the size of a waste basket and has no strategic importance,” Kelley said, describing its intent as training scientists.

In an interview with CBS on Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration would “not permit [Saudi Arabia becoming a nuclear-armed nation] to happen."

“We will not permit that to happen anywhere in the world. The President understands the threat of proliferation. We will never write a $150 million check to the Saudis and hand them over the capacity to threaten Israel and the United States with nuclear weapons, never.”

The US nuclear deal with Saudis, however, is assumed to be lucrative enough to match the money-driven politics of the American president, a businessman-turned-politician who is not afraid of overstepping boundaries for more dollars.

On Friday, IAEA Yukiya Amano asked Saudi Arabia to implement safeguards for its nuclear reactor.

Saudi Arabia is a signatory to a weaker accord designed for countries with minimal quantities of nuclear material, the IAEA’s so-called Small Quantities Protocol, which according to Amano, is fine only until Riyadh imports significant amounts.

Concern over Saudi nuclear ambitions has mounted both because of the regime’s dark record of violating human right, particularly for detention of women’s rights activists and the cruel murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, as well as its brutal war in Yemen.

Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto day-to-day ruler of the kingdom, has stated that it would promptly acquire nuclear weapons if Iran did.

Iran, for its part, has warned that it had noticed some of its neighbors with a “proven black record of supporting terrorist movements” working on “suspicious nuclear projects,” which would force Tehran to revise its defense strategy.

EA