ORAC mentioned -
Riyadh is currently negotiating American support for a civil nuclear power programme as a way of diversifying the kingdom away from reliance on oil for energy. Rick Perry, the US energy secretary, led a delegation to meet the prince in London last week to discuss Saudi Arabia's desire for nuclear power plants, which could be worth $80 billion to US companies providing the technology.
There is only one justification for Saudi Arabia wanting a Nuclear Industry and it has nothing to do with power generation. They want a nuclear weapons industry.
The price of solar cells has fallen, continues to fall and is certain to fall much further in the short term and far into the future. Today Solar power costs are already lower than Nuclear and are guaranteed to fall in the future as global production of cells increases.
Saudi, one of the sunniest places on earth is particularly well suited to the use of large scale solar power. There is no shortage of land either.
The risks of a Nuclear industry in the powder keg that is the middle East are enormous, ranging from simple accidents, military intervention causing the release of nuclear materials, the theft of nuclear materials and the production of nuclear weapons.
Solar cells are made from sand - the raw material is very cheap. All the cost is in the processing and we are getting better at that as production rises rapidly.
There is no reason to do anything other than to use every tool available to discourage the construction of a Nuclear reactor in Saudi.
How cheap are these?
"In the spring of 2016 a winning bid of 2.99 US cents per kilowatt-hour of photovoltaic solar energy was achieved for the next (800MW capacity) phase of the Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid solar farm in Dubai."[1]
"In October 2017, Saudi Arabia announced a further low contract price to provide solar power for $17.90 per MWh."[1][2] That is 1.79 US cents a kWh (or "unit" as we say in the UK).
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_o...city_by_source
[2]
https://cleantechnica.com/2017/10/07...r-project-bid/