UAE to develop civilian nuclear power (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/UAE_to_develop_civilian_nuclear_power/articleshow/2894000.cms)

DUBAI: The UAE is all set to become the first Arab state which will go ahead with plans to develop a civilian nuclear power capability in partnership with responsible nations.

Under the policy, the UAE plans to set up a Nuclear Energy Implementation Organisation as recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
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This is a wonderful news

I hope the neighbouring countries follow the footsteps

I don't see why not, if they want to.

But why is it particularly wonderful or not wonderful either?

It is a good step for UAE that will help alot in the economic and industry side. I also heard that there are many other countries are following the same step soon.

so they won't have to depend so much on oil maybe? (the wonderfulness of it all)

look at chernobyl...there are some lessons that need to be learnt and things improved.

so they won't have to depend so much on oil maybe?



Exactly ! and they need to work it out very carefully

UAE is in the forefront of so many wonderful things and I am excited to see a new chapter in its history.

This is a wonderful news

I hope the neighbouring countries follow the footsteps

its a good news .. but GCC leaders agreed in the last summit that they will start the process of using necular power in all the gulf countries! how come they are doing it alone now??

I think it's a disturbing idea: The UAE of course has massive reserves of hydrocarbon fuels for power generation...so why move into something so complex and dangerous? If it's really long-term thinking, perhaps even with environmental issues in mind, then why go for the alternative power source that provides the most dangerous pollution lasting 50,000 years?! It's also the most expensive, although many governments "hide" (i.e. absorb at tax-payers' expense) the decommissioning and waste management costs in order to promote this industry...

If the UAE or other GCC countries are looking at non-hydrocarbon energy sources, then could there be any countries on earth better suited to using solar and wind energy?! Massive, wide-open uninhabitable land areas, with intense sunlight and flat elevated plains for wind farms? Couldn't be better! The short term costs are high, but short-term cash wealth is exactly where the GCC are at right now!

I have doubts about nuclear energy in general, because even now after sixty years, we are no closer to finding a way to break down the waste into non-toxic matter. So for me, it's still an incomplete technology, and too dirty and damaging to put into mass use.

But I have another suspicion about this idea: Given that the UAE and the GCC in general are hardly short of fuel sources, and that the real costs of nuclear power are so high, I guess there must be another reason at the back of someone's mind: Having a nuclear power facility established leaves the door open later to exploring the option of a nuclear weapons programme.

To be fair, if I were the ruler of the UAE (or Saudi Arabia), the idea of being able to develop a nuclear weapons capability in the future might be a comforting one. Apart from the obvious potential threats from the region's two leading theocracies (Iran and Israel), there are three other nuclear powers within a few hundred miles of the GCC: Russia, Pakistan and India. And three more sailing their nuclear-capable warships and submarines around the GCC's coasts - US, UK and France. The GCC is wealthy right now, and strategically vital. It must be tempting to join the International-Don't-Mess-With-Us-Club.