Saudi Arabia's nuclear authority is expected to extend the tender closing date for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the kingdom's first nuclear power plant project. The client, King Abdullah City for Atomic & Renewable Energy (KA-Care), has set the end of June as the deadline for prospective bidders to submit proposals for the contract, but it is becoming likely that another extension will be granted. The initial tender closing date was December 2022. This was then extended for six months. Saudi Arabia's Finance Ministry said in its 2023 annual budget statement that the kingdom received bids on 31 December 2022 for the deal to build Saudi Arabia’s first nuclear power plant. the most likely bidders for the main contract are China National Nuclear Corporation, Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) and Russia’s Rosatom. KA-Care awarded three separate contracts for the project's legal, technical and financial advisory works earlier last year. It awarded a team led by UK-headquartered EY the financial advisory contract in May 2022. Legal and technical consultancy contracts for the project were awarded earlier. In March 2022, it was reported that Saudi Arabia had established a holding company to develop nuclear power projects in the country. Saudi ambassador to Austria and permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Prince Abdullah bin Khalid bin Sultan, was quoted as saying that the holding company would develop nuclear power plants to produce electricity, desalinate seawater and be used for thermal energy applications. This followed Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al-Saud's announcement in January 2022 that Saudi Arabia has uranium resources that it wants to exploit transparently through partnerships. (ICE RIYADH)

Fonte notizia: Meed