KSA sets up nuclear regulatory authority

The nuclear safety authority of Finland (STUK) is working in close coordination with King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), Riyadh in designing and executing a program to establish a nuclear regulatory authority for the Kingdom.
“STUK is working closely with KACARE to help establish a radiation and nuclear safety authority in the Kingdom which will ensure the peaceful applications of nuclear energy,” said Krista Kiuru, Finnish minister of education, science and communications, who was on a visit to Riyadh recently.
Accompanied by Finland’s Ambassador in Riyadh Pekka Voutilainen, Kiuru said that a team of nuclear experts from STUK are working with Saudi experts at KACARE.
She underlined that the joint effort includes ways and means of mutual cooperation in the ongoing atomic and renewable energy program between the Kingdom and Finland. “This comes within the framework of the cooperation agreement for the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Kiuru stated.
“The joint cooperation between STUK and KACARE will be helpful in exchanging expertise as the first step toward a civilian nuclear energy program in the Kingdom,” the technical experts accompanying the Finnish minister’s delegation, told Arab News.
One of the world’s most outstanding regulatory bodies, STUK has been entrusted with the task of developing safety regulations and providing training to Saudi experts working in the nuclear energy program. The ambitious project is a multi-year cooperation between the Kingdom and Finland.
Notably, the Kingdom has also brought in Poyry, a Finnish consulting and engineering company which serves clients globally across the energy and industrial sectors to deliver strategic advisory and engineering services to provide expertise on strategic aspects of the use of nuclear and renewable energy.
The company will create a long-term road map for the Kingdom to diversify its energy sources.
According to the company statement, the cooperation is aimed at a long-term energy policy regarding what should be done in the next few decades to change the way electricity is currently being produced.
Earlier, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Oman announced that the Council is commissioning a study on the peaceful use of nuclear energy and that France has agreed to work with them.
STUK, the Finnish radiation and nuclear safety authority, comprises an ambitious team of nuclear scientists aiming to keep the environment free of radioactive substances with the principal objective that Finland will be exposed to as little radiation as possible, whether it is natural or manmade. The authority is under the administration of the Finnish ministry of health and social affairs.
KA CARE was established by a royal decree of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah with the aim of building a sustainable future for the Kingdom by developing a substantial alternative energy capacity fully supported by world-class local industries. The need has arisen due to Saudi Arabia’s rapidly growing population that places an ever-increasing pressure on the country’s non-renewable hydrocarbon resources.
Therefore, it was decided that alternative, sustainable and reliable sources of energy for generating power and producing desalinated water should be introduced that will reduce consumption of the nation’s fossil fuel reserves.
KA CARE is aiming toward a balanced energy mix of alternative and conventional energy, which is strategically important for the Kingdom’s long-term prosperity, energy security, and its leading position in the global energy market.