Should advanced nuclear energy be focus of Saudi lower-carbon emissions strategy?

My first introduction to renewable energy occurred in 2003 when I attended a presentation at the World Bank mission office in Riyadh. The main focus of the presentation was the vast economic potential of solar energy in Saudi Arabia. Alongside the environmental advantages of solar power, the country’s unique geographical and climatic conditions make the utilization of renewable energy sources highly appealing from an economic standpoint.

ACWA Power was established, and grew in Saudi Arabia and internationally a few years later. The company has become one of the world’s leading independent power-generation producers and a leader in renewable energy applications, be it solar, wind or even hydrogen. For someone close to its leadership, I firmly believe that ACWA Power makes a perfect case study at Harvard Business School to be taught to future global business leaders.

Years later, the Saudi government set up a dedicated center for nuclear energy: King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. The city aims to integrate atomic and renewable energy with the national energy system by activating comparative advantages and creating new ones from all value chains in atomic and renewable energy for sustainable development. Also, a Saudi National Atomic Energy Project has been launched to enable civil nuclear energy in the Kingdom to contribute to the national energy mix under local requirements and international commitments.

I recently met Prof. Stefano Buono, founder and CEO of NewCleo, a nuclear energy company that aims to generate safe, clean, economical and practically inexhaustible nuclear energy. NewCleo is using nuclear waste as fuel through a profoundly innovative combination of existing and accessible technologies.

To accelerate its plan to achieve zero emissions, the Saudi government could consider choosing an advanced, Generation IV, sustainable technology to start its nuclear program.

Nuclear power plants produce no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, and throughout their life cycle, nuclear has approximately the same amount of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions per unit of electricity as wind, and one-third of the emissions per unit of electricity compared to solar.

Experts have concluded that to achieve the deep decarbonization required to keep the average global temperature rise below 1.5°C, combating climate change would be much harder without an increased role for nuclear. Because nuclear power is reliable and can be deployed on a large scale, it can directly replace fossil fuel plants, avoiding the combustion of fossil fuels for electricity generation. The use of nuclear energy today avoids emissions roughly equivalent to removing one-third of all cars from the world’s roads.

Globally, around 10 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear power. However, some countries rely heavily on it, with nuclear providing more than 70 percent of electricity in France and more than 40 percent in Sweden. The next generation of nuclear power plants is expected to generate much less nuclear waste than today’s reactors.

To accelerate its plan to achieve zero emissions, the Saudi government could consider choosing an advanced, Generation IV, sustainable technology to start its nuclear program. This would be a better option than an old technology that produces more waste, is less safe, and is expensive. Institutions such as King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, and King Abdullah University for Science and Technology, can play an active role in the research and development of the next generation of nuclear power and its industrial applications, in collaboration with leading strategic partners.

Basil M.K. Al-Ghalayini is the chairman and CEO of BMG Financial Group.