The president of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals has described Saturday's announcement of a Royal Decree for the King Abdullah City of Atomic and Renewable Energy as a “massive step toward securing additional sources of energy and preserving oil for many a decade”. “Turning to renewable energy will safeguard energy supplies for the ever-growing population and its increasing demand for desalinated seawater and electricity,” said Khaled Al-Sultan. “Renewable, non-environment-polluting, energy is one of the main solutions to the current challenges that threaten the future of energy around the world.” Al-Sultan believes that the Kingdom has the scientific and research talent for advancement in renewable energy at a time of “unprecedented and intense competition for alternative, diverse, sustainable and reliable sources of energy to generate electricity and reduce the dependence oil and gas”. “Advanced countries are focusing efforts on large-scale investment in renewable energy such as solar and wind power,” he said. Sami Habeeb, Director of the Nano Technology Center at King Abdulaziz University, said his institution was “prepared to provide qualified national staff to work in the new atomic energy city”. “The ability and expertise of graduates from the university's 30-year-old Nuclear Engineering Department can be utilized in the City, along with the qualified staff from other universities in the Kingdom,” Habeeb said. “The Cabinet decision to establish the city will have a positive effect not only on the Kingdom but on all Arab countries.” King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, ordered Saturday the establishment of the King Abdullah City of Atomic and Renewable Energy, with Dr. Hashem Yamani as president and Dr. Walid Abu Al-Faraj as vice-president, and its goal to “contribute to sustainable development in the Kingdom by using science, research and industries related to renewable atomic energy for peaceful purposes, in order to improve living standards and quality of life in the Kingdom”. With its headquarters in Riyadh, the Atomic City is also tasked with drawing up a national policy on nuclear energy development and supervising all commercial use of nuclear power and handling of radioactive waste, and will be an independent legal entity under the administration of the prime minister. It will represent the Kingdom at the International Atomic Energy Agency and other relevant organizations.
