JEDDAH: Osama Tayeb, president of King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Jeddah, announced at a press conference yesterday plans to establish a nuclear research center on the university’s campus.
“The first phase of planning and research is complete; the project is moving along the required channels in order to be implemented,” he said.
Tayeb is chairman of the executive committee organizing the Kingdom’s first international symposium on the peaceful uses of nuclear technology in Gulf countries that begins this week. The symposium is held under the sponsorship of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah.
More than 50 nuclear scientists from various parts of the world are expected to attend the three-day event scheduled to begin tomorrow. “It will identify the requirements for obtaining peaceful nuclear technology,” Tayeb said.
When asked why Iran and Pakistan were not among the participants he said the committee had used certain criteria in choosing participants. He added that 53 studies and working papers from more than 23 countries had been chosen. The scientific committees have carefully revised and approved the papers, Tayeb explained.
The meeting will focus purely on scientific research and will not go into executing future projects or setting timetables, he added.
“Our role is to present recommendations; the execution is in the hands of the region’s decision makers,” he pointed out.
“The government’s position is clear; it stresses the importance of nuclear power and every country’s right to have and use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” he said.
Mohammed Subian Al-Johani, secretary-general of the event’s organizing committee and dean of KAU’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, said nuclear scientists and experts from the United States, Russia, China, Canada, France, Germany and Japan have confirmed their participation.
The three-day forum will have 13 sessions dealing with five main points: Strategic planning for introducing nuclear technology into the GCC countries, nuclear power, nuclear research reactors, radioisotope applications and radiation protection.
Al-Johani said a number of GCC ministers are also expected to participate. A speech by Mohamed El-Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will be read out at the opening ceremony.
Al-Johani said participants would listen to the experiences of countries such as Egypt, the Czech Republic, Chile and others. Local and international companies will exhibit their products and services on the sidelines of the event. The university has set up an official website (www.KAU.edu.sa/ntsymposium) for the forum.
