Candidate site selection for nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia using GIS

Many countries prefer to use renewable and clean energy sources over fossil fuels as fossil fuels are limited and have a negative impact on the environment. Although there are diverse, renewable, and clean sources of energy, such as solar, wind, and geothermal, the low and variable productivity of these resources impedes their application. Conversely, nuclear energy is a reliable, stable, and safe source of energy. The International Atomic Energy Agency recommends the use of geographic information systems in site planning of nuclear plants. Accordingly, this study seeks to apply the technical capabilities of geographic information systems in building a geographical database as well as data processing and analysis to support the decision making and examination of suitable sites for nuclear reactor facilities. In this study, a spatial suitability analysis methodology based on the multi-criteria decision-making method was used to identify candidate areas with suitable spatial characteristics for nuclear reactor facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, vector modeling was used to successfully determine potential sites over an area of ~ 4442 km2 on the eastern coast (Al-Ahsa, Al-Adaid Governorate) and over an area of ~ 600 km2 on the western coast (Umloj, Yanbu, Rabigh, Al-Laith, and Baysh) of the Kingdom.