OREANDA-NEWS. June 25, 2014. In the scope of Saudi Arabia’s energy diversification program and as a contribution to the effort of development of the country’s industrial competences, early this week, AREVA and EDF welcomed 40 Saudi students from three universities (King Saud University, Al Faisal University and King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals) for long-term engineering internships.

Thanks to the program, the students will gain significant experience in the nuclear facilities and engineering centers of both groups. This professional immersion will enable them to benefit from European excellence in nuclear power notably in terms of safety, quality and operational performance.

Before beginning their internships, the students had the chance to acquire a basic technical understanding of nuclear energy during training seminars organized jointly by AREVA and EDF in Riyadh in late 2013, and in Al Khobar in May.

This initiative follows the signing of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with the Bahra National Institute of Technology and four Saudi universities in 2013.

Saudi Arabia, which aims to diversify its energy mix, has launched a new generation capacity development program mainly focusing on nuclear and solar power.