The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has joined the nuclear club. Is this a big deal? Well, that depends on who you talk to. Obviously none of us heard about it anytime leading up until now, so no one is concerned about the safety or security implications- at least not in the West. My mind has three thoughts:

1. This is so different from Iran.
2. Why did they do it?
3. Why don’t they just use their oil?

1. Iran.

Think about how many times you’ve seen Iran in the news over the past year or two for ostensibly trying to create nuclear power just to provide electricity. Nobody is too concerned about the UAE. And with good reason- why should they be concerned? Afterall, the UAE is not militant in the sense that they are going to attack anyone- they are small and their most visible centers- Abu Dhabi and Dubai are both so capitalist that they spend all of their money and energy trying to either impress or attract people from around the world. They won’t be attacking anyone anytime soon- they are too busy trying to make money and trying to be liked.

1. In some ways, I would say they did it just so that they can say that they can. I don’t mean to paint all of the UAE as if it is headquartered in Dubai- I know it’s not. But if they are going to try and build the biggest of everything, there has to be a pervasive drive to be able to use any kind of electricity. And there is a certain sense of nuclear being special.
2. Why not use the natural gas and oil?

Well, they sold it all. Though it is pretty much the most copious resource the UAE has, they have sold so much of it as part of long-term contracts or it’s in use getting other oil out of the ground. In fact, the Wall Street Journal says that the UAE is already importing natural gas from Qatar!

On another level it’s a good business move- every oil barrel they have is worth $70. That is serious money. It’s cheaper to build a nuclear power plant, use that energy, and then just keep selling the oil to the suckers- like the U.S.

"The idea behind developing nuclear energy is to have nuclear power for the base load [the minimum level of demand on an electrical supply system over 24 hours] and save gas, which is needed for petrochemicals, reinjection into oil fields and peak load generation," Said Eckart Woertz, chief economist at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.

Obama, are you listening? Wait, you got me on this one- that whole multi-billion dollar loan to Georgia for the nuclear power plant. Ok, that’s a good idea afterall. Not a GREEN idea, but a good idea. I give you that.

In the end, the biggest political touch-point of this announcement for me is that nobody really cares. The UAE is going to split an atom? Go for it! Interesting to compare it to 50 years ago or to the other countries around it.

Photo Credit: Ioan Barbulescu (via Flickr under CCL)