Reported in The Times of London:
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the UAE have said they will start working on Nuclear Programmes for Civilian purposes such as desalination systems.
"Egypt and other North African states can argue with some justification that they need cheap, safe energy for their expanding economies and growing populations at a time of high oil prices.
The case will be much harder for Saudi Arabia, which sits on the world’s largest oil reserves…"
It’s an interesting turn of events. Of course, civilian nuclear programmes do not automatically lead to Nuclear Weapons as Japan, Finland and Sweden demonstrate.
In the case of Egypt, what the article also doesn’t point out is that Egypt already has two nuclear plants for research purposes. Also the current head of the IAEA is an Egyptian and you would expect he would have a fair idea of what Egypt is up to.
Maybe Saudi Arabia feels that they can get more value from the oil from selling it than using it or they want to reduce their own dependance on the oil while they have oodles of cash - who knows? The alternative - that Saudi does develop nuclear weapons will again adjust the balance in the Middle East.