RIYADH: King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) has launched a program to develop national cadres under the umbrella of the Uranium Mining Project in central Jordan. The program, which will last for a year, will be conducted in cooperation with the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission and Jordanian Uranium Mining Co. The first batch of Saudi trainees to Jordan includes 13 specialists with expertise in uranium exploration and mining. The specialists will train national cadres in the exploration of uranium ore, uranium oxide (yellowcake) production, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The Uranium Mining Project is one of the components of the National Atomic Energy Project in Saudi Arabia to provide the requirements for sustainable national development envisaged in the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030. Dr. Khalid Al-Sultan, president of KACARE, highlighted the importance of exchanging knowledge and experience because of its positive impact in developing the skills of employees working in these fields. Preliminary studies have estimated Saudi Arabia has around 60,000 tons of uranium ore, Maher Al-Odan, the chief atomic energy officer of KACARE, said at an electricity forum in Riyadh in Oct. 2017.  With Saudi Arabia’s rapidly growing population placing increasing pressure on the country’s non-renewable hydrocarbon resources, the Kingdom is looking to alternative and sustainable sources of energy for power and production of desalinated water in a bid to reduce consumption of fossil fuel reserves.