Gulf states plan for nuclear future

摘要

While Iran grabs international headlines for its controversial nuclear programme, ambitious plans for an atomic roll-out on the other side of the Gulf are quietly under way. Non-proliferation experts are already voicing concern. Major oil-producing states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, are taking steps to develop civilian nuclear power. Concurrently, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a trade bloc of the six Arab states in the region, is working with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to erect a research reactor on the peninsula. Nearly everyone in the Gulf has declared some interest in nuclear power over the past two years, says Mustafa Alani, a senior consultant with the Gulf Research Centre, an independent think tank in Dubai, UAE. "There is a fever in the region."