IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v106y2017icp103-110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multinational uranium enrichment in the Middle East

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmad, Ali
  • Salahieh, Sidra
  • Snyder, Ryan

Abstract

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed to by Iran and the P5+1 in July 2015 placed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program while other Middle Eastern countries– Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates–are planning to build their own nuclear power plants to meet increasing electricity demands. Although the JCPOA restricts Iran's uranium enrichment program for 10–15 years, Iran's neighbors may choose to develop their own national enrichment programs giving them a potential nuclear weapons capability. This paper argues that converting Iran's national enrichment program to a more proliferation-resistant multinational arrangement could offer significant economic benefits–reduced capital and operational costs–due to economies of scale and the utilization of more efficient enrichment technologies. In addition, the paper examines policy aspects related to financing, governance, and how multinational enrichment could fit into the political and security context of the Middle East. A multinational enrichment facility managed by regional and international partners would provide more assurance that it remains peaceful and could help build confidence between Iran and its neighbors to cooperate in managing other regional security challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmad, Ali & Salahieh, Sidra & Snyder, Ryan, 2017. "Multinational uranium enrichment in the Middle East," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 103-110.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:106:y:2017:i:c:p:103-110
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517301891
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.045?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ramana, M.V. & Ahmad, Ali, 2016. "Wishful thinking and real problems: Small modular reactors, planning constraints, and nuclear power in Jordan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 236-245.
    2. Geoffrey Rothwell, "undated". "Market Power in Uranium Enrichment," Discussion Papers 08-032, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Griffiths, Steven, 2017. "A review and assessment of energy policy in the Middle East and North Africa region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 249-269.
    2. Christian von Hirschhausen, 2022. "Nuclear Power in the Twenty-first Century (Part II) - The Economic Value of Plutonium," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2011, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Mignacca, B. & Locatelli, G., 2020. "Economics and finance of Small Modular Reactors: A systematic review and research agenda," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    4. Geoffrey Rothwell, 2010. "New U.S. Nuclear Generation: 2010-2030," Discussion Papers 09-025, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    5. Wealer, B. & Bauer, S. & Hirschhausen, C.v. & Kemfert, C. & Göke, L., 2021. "Investing into third generation nuclear power plants - Review of recent trends and analysis of future investments using Monte Carlo Simulation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Warren, Paul & De Simone, Giuseppe, 2014. "Fuelling the future?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(S1), pages 5-15.
    7. Viet Phuong Nguyen & Man-Sung Yim, 2019. "Nonproliferation and Security Implications of the Evolving Civil Nuclear Export Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-14, March.
    8. Nian, Victor & Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio, 2022. "Policies toward net-zero: Benchmarking the economic competitiveness of nuclear against wind and solar energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    9. Kessides, Ioannis N., 2010. "Nuclear power: Understanding the economic risks and uncertainties," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 3849-3864, August.
    10. Thomas, Steve, 2018. "Russia's Nuclear Export Programme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 236-247.
    11. Haneklaus, Nils & Schröders, Sarah & Zheng, Yanhua & Allelein, Hans-Josef, 2017. "Economic evaluation of flameless phosphate rock calcination with concentrated solar power and high temperature reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 1148-1157.
    12. Abdelrahman Azzuni & Arman Aghahosseini & Manish Ram & Dmitrii Bogdanov & Upeksha Caldera & Christian Breyer, 2020. "Energy Security Analysis for a 100% Renewable Energy Transition in Jordan by 2050," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-26, June.
    13. Carlo L. Vinoya & Aristotle T. Ubando & Alvin B. Culaba & Wei-Hsin Chen, 2023. "State-of-the-Art Review of Small Modular Reactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-30, April.
    14. Dimitrios Zormpas, 2021. "Jointly Held Investment Options and Vertical Relationships," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 58(4), pages 513-530, June.
    15. Lin, Boqiang & Bae, Nuri & Bega, François, 2020. "China's Belt & Road Initiative nuclear export: Implications for energy cooperation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    16. Mignacca, Benito & Locatelli, Giorgio & Sainati, Tristano, 2020. "Deeds not words: Barriers and remedies for Small Modular nuclear Reactors," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    17. Thomas, Steve, 2019. "Is it the end of the line for Light Water Reactor technology or can China and Russia save the day?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 216-226.
    18. Stephen Thomas & M. V. Ramana, 2022. "A hopeless pursuit? National efforts to promote small modular nuclear reactors and revive nuclear power," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(4), July.
    19. Rothwell, Geoffrey, 2010. "International light water nuclear fuel fabrication supply: Are fabrication services assured?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 538-544, May.
    20. Frederik Reitsma & Peter Woods & Martin Fairclough & Yongjin Kim & Harikrishnan Tulsidas & Luis Lopez & Yanhua Zheng & Ahmed Hussein & Gerd Brinkmann & Nils Haneklaus & Anand Rao Kacham & Tumuluri Sre, 2018. "On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:106:y:2017:i:c:p:103-110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.