Saudi Nuclear Development Could Become a U.S. 'Last-Resort Measure' to Check Russia and China

Saudi Arabia has no capability to enrich uranium on its own, so it would ultimately have to depend on outside technical support. This is similar to the technical limits Iran faced in its own nuclear push, and there are concerns that Saudi nuclear development could give Iran a pretext to press ahead as well.

To prevent this, the United States may face a situation where it has no choice but to bring Saudi nuclear development under its own control as a last-resort measure.

Because South Korea has no capacity to reprocess spent fuel, waste from nuclear plants keeps piling up. Concern is growing that if nuclear plants continue to be built under these conditions, the entire national territory could become a nuclear waste site. This raises fundamental questions about the sustainability of South Korea's nuclear industry.

The United States holds reactor design technology but lacks direct construction capacity, so South Korea's construction ability could play an important role. Yet whenever South Korea tries to export reactors, Westinghouse often raises original-technology issues and holds up deals. This makes it difficult for South Korea to pursue independent reactor projects free of U.S. influence based on its own technical strength.

During a past Hormuz blockade, oil prices rose 59%, yet governments in each country moved to curb increases in gasoline prices at gas stations in order to minimize the impact on consumer prices. Had the full oil price increase been passed through, gasoline would have risen to around 2,500 won per liter, but government intervention reflected efforts to keep prices stable.

The United Arab Emirates ships 1.8 million of its 4.5 million barrels per day via a bypass to Fujairah, and aims to route 3.6 million barrels through its planned additional pipelines without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has already completed a pipeline to its Red Sea coast, and Iraq is using a route through Turkey and Syria to the Mediterranean. These efforts show the determination of Middle Eastern states to spread geopolitical risk and build a secure energy supply chain.

Dubai, which has grown around tourism, finance, aviation, and real estate rather than oil given its small production, is suffering an economic slump as tourist arrivals have fallen since the COVID-19 pandemic. Dubai accounts for only about 4% of the UAE's total oil output and has grown over the past 40 years through non-oil industries. But as tourist inflows, its main source of income, have declined, reports say the city's atmosphere has turned quiet again, as it was during COVID-19.