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The 30 April bid deadline for nuclear technology providers to submit bids for a contract to build Saudi Arabia’s Duwaiheen nuclear power plant project has passed without any clear indication of a new tender closing date, according to two sources familiar with the project.

“The understanding is that the tendering process requires a level of [political] stability in the region. This seems like an automatic postponement for the project tendering process,” one of the sources said.

Companies that have been invited and are expected to bid for the contract include:

• China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC, China)
• Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco, South Korea)
• Rosatom (Russia) 
• EDF Group (France)

The project is in the so-called bid invitation specification stage, and there are no direct negotiations between the client and the potential bidders at this stage, MEED reported in July 2023.

Saudi Arabia plans to build a large-scale nuclear power plant facility as part of its energy diversification agenda. 

However, the ongoing conflict between Israel, Gaza and other neighbouring countries appears to be a major contributing factor in the extended procurement timeline of the Duwaiheen nuclear plant project.

In October, an industry source said the ongoing conflict in Gaza is not likely to help advance negotiations between the countries with a key stake in the project.

It is understood that Riyadh is using its nuclear power plant project, along with its plan to enrich uranium sources as part of its industrial strategy, as a bargaining chip with the US government. The White House is pushing for the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and opposed to uranium enrichment.

A month before the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas started, it was reported that senior Palestinian officials were in Riyadh for talks with senior Saudi and US officials.

According to a BBC report in September 2023, the Palestinians were negotiating for hundreds of millions of dollars and more control of land in the occupied West Bank in the event of a three-way deal between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the US.

On 14 October, Saudi Arabia suspended the talks on potentially normalising ties with Israel, which it never officially recognised as an independent state.

Consultants

Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company received three bids for the project management consultancy package for the nuclear plant project last year.

MEED understands the following companies submitted proposals for the contract:

• Atkins (UK/Canada)
• Worley (Australia)
• Assystems (France)

Two of the three bidders have had previous engagements with the Saudi nuclear energy project. 

2.8GW project

The Duwaiheen nuclear power plant is expected to be procured using a traditional design-and-build model. 

In September 2016, MEED reported that Saudi Arabia was carrying out technical and economic feasibility studies for the first reactors, and was also looking at possible locations for the kingdom’s first nuclear project, a 2.8GW facility.

A site at Khor Duwaiheen, on the coast near the UAE and Qatari borders, was subsequently chosen for the first project.

In March 2022, Saudi Arabia announced the establishment of a holding company – understood to be the Duwaiheen Nuclear Energy Company – to develop nuclear power projects in the country to produce electricity, desalinate seawater and support thermal energy applications.

MEED's April 2024 special report on Saudi Arabia includes:

> GVT & ECONOMY: Saudi Arabia seeks diversification amid regional tensions
> BANKING: Saudi lenders gear up for corporate growth
> UPSTREAM: Aramco spending drawdown to jolt oil projects
> DOWNSTREAM: Master Gas System spending stimulates Saudi downstream sector
> POWER: Riyadh to sustain power spending
> WATER: Growth inevitable for the Saudi water sector
> CONSTRUCTION: Saudi gigaprojects propel construction sector
> TRANSPORT: Saudi Arabia’s transport sector offers prospects