China’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia to Maaal: Chinese companies want to participate in peaceful nuclear energy program in the Kingdom

By Fahd Al-Talal

Chen Weiqing, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom, revealed: Chinese companies have a strong intention to participate in the program to build peaceful nuclear energy in the Kingdom.

The ambassador added in statements to Maaal newspaper, “We encourage Chinese companies to participate in activities for the use of peaceful nuclear energy, as Chinese companies are communicating with the Saudi side in this regard, pointing to the rapid development of nuclear energy in China, especially the new generation of nuclear energy, as it enjoys reliability and popularity in the world, according to the ambassador’s description.

HE, who spoke from his country’s embassy in Riyadh, continued: Chinese companies are competing with companies from other countries in this project, and I believe that there are broad prospects for cooperation in the use of peaceful nuclear energy between Riyadh and Beijing.

According to nominated information, there are 4 companies from 4 countries competing to win the establishment of a nuclear energy project for peaceful uses in Saudi Arabia. These companies are the Korean Electric Power Company, known as Kepco, and the Russian Rosatom Company, known as Rosatom. The third company is the National Corporation. China Nuclear Energy (CNNC) and the fourth company are EDF Energy Limited, a British company owned by the French state (EDF Energy).

These companies compete through a competition conducted by the King Abdullah City for Atomic Energy, where the technologies for each company are tested based on the technical and technological specifications that suit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as each of these companies has different technologies, experiences and expertise, and the time frame that will take place has not been determined. It takes a while to compete and announce the winning company for this project.