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Nuclear project may feature in Trump’s Riyadh visit

10 March 2025

 

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Saudi Arabia's civilian nuclear power plant project may feature in the planned visit of US President Donald Trump to Riyadh within the next six weeks, industry sources tell MEED.

"I think the main agenda will be Russia, Ukraine and Middle East peace, but energy cooperation – such as the nuclear industry – could also be discussed," one source says.

Trump has said he will likely visit Saudi Arabia on his first overseas trip within the next month and a half, as he did during his first term of office.

Trump's first overseas trip of his first term was to Riyadh in 2017, to announce Saudi investments estimated at the time to be worth $350bn.

His next visit is contingent upon the signing of deals with Riyadh for investments of more than $1tn in the US economy, according to reports.

"I doubt whether the [Saudi] nuclear programme will be on the agenda, but one never knows," says another source familiar with Saudi Arabia's nuclear power plant project. "[Trump] may use the nuclear [project] as a deviation from the main agenda of the talks."

Saudi Arabia is hosting talks between top US and Ukrainian diplomats this week regarding the potential of peace between Moscow and Kyiv. 

Duwaiheen nuclear power plant

Saudi Arabia restarted procurement proceedings for its first large-scale nuclear power plant project in Duwaiheen in 2022.

The bid deadline for the main contract to build the project, which will be located close to the border with Qatar, has been extended several times.

The ongoing conflict between Israel, Gaza and other neighbouring countries appears to have contributed to the extended procurement timeline of the Duwaiheen nuclear plant project.

It is understood that Riyadh is using its nuclear power plant project, along with its plan to enrich uranium sources as part of its industrial strategy, as a bargaining chip with the US government. The White House is pushing for the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and is opposed to uranium enrichment.

A month before the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas started, it was reported that senior Palestinian officials were in Riyadh for talks with senior Saudi and US officials. According to a BBC report in September 2023, the Palestinians were negotiating for hundreds of millions of dollars and more control of land in the occupied West Bank in the event of a three-way deal between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US.

On 14 October 2023, Saudi Arabia suspended the talks on potentially normalising ties with Israel, which it has never officially recognised as an independent state.

Westinghouse-Kepco dispute resolution

In January, US-headquartered Westinghouse Electric Company resolved its long-running intellectual property dispute with Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company (KHNP).

Westinghouse initiated legal action in the US in 2022 to block Kepco and KHNP from distributing without permission nuclear technology for which it claimed ownership rights.

Westinghouse’s argument was based on the claim that the Korean nuclear reactor model APR1400 relied on the firm's original design and technology, and that the two South Korean companies should be responsible for any damages resulting from the export of APR1400-modelled nuclear reactors.

In response, KHNP filed countersuits in the US to compel Westinghouse to withdraw the case, while simultaneously seeking an out-of-court resolution.

KHNP asserted that it possessed the necessary licences to use the technology, enabling the firm to export it without Westinghouse’s permission. KHNP argued that it should not be held accountable for royalty payments.

Both Kepco and Westinghouse expressed interest in developing Saudi Arabia’s first large-scale nuclear power plant in Duwaiheen, although Westinghouse has since dropped out of the race, according to sources.

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