Saudi Arabia has won a membership in the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for a period of two years, according to the state news agency on Thursday.
The board is responsible for making most of the policy of the IAEA. It makes recommendations to the general conference on IAEA activities and budget.
Moreover, the IAEA is responsible for sending hundreds of inspectors around the world to look after and maintain a vast network of cameras, seals and sensors.
Their job is to account for gram levels of enriched uranium, ensuring that the key ingredient needed for nuclear power isn’t perted into building weapons.
Enrichment of uranium into nuclear fuel is at the heart of the U.S. conflict with Iran because of the technology can be easily adapted to military purposes.
In the meantime, Saudi Arabia is nearing completion of a low-powered research unit being built with Argentina’s state-owned INVAP SE, which needs an inspections agreement in place before it can access the low-enriched uranium it needs to operate.
Satellite images of a nuclear reactor under construction on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh, have reignited fears of an escalation in the tussle for regional hegemony pitting the Saudi kingdom against Iran, according to a report published by France 24.
When that happens, Saudi Arabia’s first reactor will not instantly propel Riyadh to the rank of major nuclear power, experts have cautioned.
The main purpose of such installations is to train scientists and carry out medical research in such fields as cancer treatment, added Rockwood, who worked at the IAEA’s legal affairs office before joining the VCDNP.
Saudi Arabia’s plans to build such a site have been known since 2015, when it signed an agreement with INVAP, the Argentinian state-backed nuclear company that is now building the reactor in the outskirts of Riyadh.
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