Topic: Emerging Nuclear States and the Global Nuclear Framework
Country: Saudi Arabia
Delegate Name: Benjamin Brewster
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Saudi Arabia position papers GLIMUN 2016 committees
Saudi Arabia firmly believes that peaceful nuclear power is the energy of the future, and that the United Nations must encourage encourage member states to embark upon introducing nuclear power into their national power matrices. We believe that the benefits of nuclear power are clear, and that they are directly aligned with the goals, beliefs, and visions of the UN. Not only does nuclear power gift a nation with a reliable source of power and electricity, considered by the UN to be a human right, but it also creates thousands of jobs in the fields of construction, the sciences, plant operations and maintenance, and so many others. For these reasons, Saudi Arabia has included the creation of 16 nuclear power facilities by 2030 as part of its ambitious “VIsion 2030” objective, and believes that the UN must encourage other members states to do the same.
Similarly, in the planning and organizational phase of our nuclear objective, the Saudi Arabian representatives m,et with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to discuss what needs to be done throughout the process of our objective. Both parties reached a mutual agreement that atomic energy was the Saudi Arabia’s best option for providing its citizens with reliable energy going forward, and that our nation and the IAEA would have to work together to make our vision a reality. Thus, we believe that in the United Nations encouragement of other nations to develop their own nuclear power grids, they should also position the IAEA as central to the process.
However, Saudi Arabia acknowledges the non-peaceful use of nuclear energy as one of the defining issues of our time, but believes there is a fine line that needs to be walked between international responsibility and respect for nations national sovereignty in our dealing with this issue on the international diplomatic stage. We believe that the UN is perfectly situated to aide nations in attempts to come together to form mutually agreeable deals that are to the satisfaction of both sides, but do not believe that it should step too far outside of these boundaries, as a nation's dealings and national sovereignty should not be infringed upon unless it is unanimously agreed upon as a threat to international peace and civility, something the Security Council would be able to decide upon in an emergency session.
In the realm of nuclear waste, we believe that the UN should encourage waste-problematic states to consult the IAEA in their dealings with this issue. It is both an environmental issue, and a health issue, and it must be addressed. The recycling of nuclear waste was chosen as the best way to proceed for Saudi Arabia, but we understand that not all situations are identical, and believe that the IAEA is the ideal candidate to help nations navigate this incredibly volatile situation, and believe that the UN should advocate heavily for its waste-problematic member states to do so.
