With Iran gaining the international community's acceptance of its nuclear programme, and the UAE currently constructing three of four planned nuclear reactors, nuclear energy has become a reality in the region. The leaders of Saudi Arabia have also announced that the kingdom is embarking on an ambitious energy diversification plan that includes a large share of nuclear power. The multiple accidents at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan in 2011, however, have curbed enthusiasm for nuclear energy in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, and led these countries to abandon or suspend their nuclear plans. The official rationale to acquire nuclear power is based on a set of common challenges that face countries across the region such as rising demand for electricity and desalinated water due to economic and population growth, the need to achieve energy security through reducing reliance on energy imports or through diversification of energy sources, and the opportunity cost associated with burning oil and gas to generate electricity instead of diverting these resources for export. As the presence of nuclear energy in the region grows, the need to better understand the underlying issues becomes essential. Specifically, this workshop aims to discuss the following themes: • Status, projections, and resource requirements: The scale and maturity of the proposed nuclear programmes in the region differ from one country to another. An overview of current status and future projections would be needed for setting the stage to discuss the various issues identified below. • Economics: The economic competitiveness of nuclear power depends on its cost relative to traditional energy sources such as oil and natural gas as well as to alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power. Nuclear projects have suffered some major cost and time overruns, even in countries with high nuclear capacity such as France and the United States. On the other hand, generation costs of solar electricity have dramatically declined over the past decade and are projected to decline further as relevant technologies mature. • Nuclear safety: In the wake of the Fukushima accident in 2011, many countries around the world, including four GCC states, decided to revise their nuclear power plans. There is a need to understand how Fukushima affected the public discourse on nuclear issues and selection criteria for nuclear safety in newcomer countries in the region in terms of technological preferences and expectations. 3 • Nuclear security: The talks over Iran's nuclear programme have highlighted the security risk associated with nuclear power and its relevance to the region. The global expansion of nuclear power is a major challenge to the nuclear non-proliferation regime due to the significant overlap between the technical requirements of a peaceful nuclear power programme and that of a nuclear weapon programme. • Prospects for regional cooperation: The adoption of nuclear power as part of the region’s future energy mix could open the door for cooperation opportunities, particularly on sensitive issues such as control of the nuclear fuel cycle activities, including uranium enrichment and management of nuclear waste. • The role of small modular reactors: In recent years, a number of designs called Small Modular reactors (SMRs), with power outputs of less than 300 MWe, are being promoted by nuclear establishments in many countries. SMRs could offer a number of advantages over large reactors such as reduced economic risk and the potential use for some niche industrial applications.