Saudi Arabia announces to build nuclear energy center

Saudi Arabia on Saturday gave its strongest signal yet that it wants to develop atomic power by announcing a new centre for nuclear and alternative energy technologies.According to Saudi news agency, King Abdullah City for Nuclear and Renewable Energies will be built in Riyadh. The government said the centre would undertake research and develop projects in nuclear and alternative energies toward the goal of diversifying the kingdom's power generation away from oil and natural gas. While the Gulf kingdom has already been experimenting with alternative energy sources like solar power, the latest move confirmed its interest in nuclear energy. The new entity is to draft a national policy on nuclear energy development and supervise all commercial use of nuclear power and the handling of radioactive waste, the announcement said.