OREANDA-NEWS  Rosatom State Corporation has sent documents for participation in the tender for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Saudi Arabia, according to an article by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak for the magazine "Energy Policy".

The Deputy Prime Minister also recalled that the construction of another nuclear power plant in Turkey is being discussed.

"The domestic nuclear industry ranks first in the world in terms of the largest portfolio of foreign projects: 34 power units in 11 countries are at various stages of implementation - this is over 70% of the world's exports of nuclear power plants," the official said.

Novak said in mid-October 2022 in an interview with Asharq News that Rosatom would soon send documents for a tender for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Saudi Arabia.

Alexey Likhachev in November 2021, in a conversation with journalists, explained that the Saudi partners call this procedure not a tender, but competitive negotiations. "They are negotiating the terms of the project with different countries and with different companies, and even with international consortia. And they inform us about it quite openly," he said.

7 years ago, an intergovernmental agreement on a peaceful atom was signed between Russia and Saudi Arabia. During the same period, Saudi Arabia announced its intentions to develop nuclear energy. 16 nuclear power units were built, and then the country changed its strategy and focused on two stations. In 2017, Russia and Saudi Arabia signed a roadmap for the "peaceful atom".

In February 2018, Rosatom applied for participation in a tender for the construction of two nuclear power plant units in Saudi Arabia. In July, it became known that Rosatom entered the shortlist for the next stage of the competition. At the end of 2018, Likhachev told reporters that Russia had moved to the next stage of this tender.