51 reports
Civilian nuclear energy programs across the Gulf states, covering nuclear power plant plans and procurement, agreements with foreign nuclear suppliers, fuel-cycle and enrichment questions, nuclear regulation, and the regional competition over nuclear capabilities.
Civilian nuclear programs are emerging as a consequential strand of GCC strategic autonomy and a new source of intra-Gulf competition.
Saudi Arabia's civil nuclear agreement with the US, submitted to Congress on 24 August 2026, opens a conditional pathway to domestic enrichment, and in October 2026 Riyadh was preparing to renew the competition for its first nuclear power plant, reassessing international reactor proposals and the procurement framework after earlier talks with Westinghouse on a two-reactor AP1000 project, while assessing uranium recovery from the Jabal Sayid project for a domestic fuel cycle and nuclear cooperation with France.
The UAE, operator of the Barakah plant, is reassessing its own nuclear bargain with Washington, preparing for a second nuclear power plant and has installed Hamad Al-Kaabi as Director-General of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR).
Qatar keeps a tightly controlled civilian option open through US and alternative partners.
This topic page tracks all three tracks, the revised Saudi bidding process and competing reactor technologies, fuel-cycle and supplier strategies, regulatory leadership and the regional nuclear balance.
Essential for nuclear vendors, nonproliferation analysts and US and Asian government policy desks.
