- Deal allows Saudi Arabia to build reactors using US technology.
- It permits uranium enrichment and nuclear waste reprocessing.
- Pact does not include the IAEA Additional Protocol for snap inspections.
The US and Saudi Arabia have reached a landmark agreement on civil nuclear power, the US Energy Department said on Wednesday, a deal that allows the kingdom to build nuclear reactors using American technology and to enrich uranium.
A civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia has been in the works for years during both President Donald Trump’s first administration and that of President Joe Biden.
No deal has come together before now, however, in part because of warnings from non-proliferation groups which say that it could offer Saudi Arabia a path to develop a nuclear weapon.
Unlike the Biden plan, the current deal does not include a so-called Additional Protocol that allows the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency to carry out intrusive snap inspections.
The deal would also allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium and reprocess nuclear waste, both of which are potential pathways to making a nuclear weapon. The UAE agreed to forgo both of those when it signed a similar deal with the US in 2009.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and his counterpart, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, signed the pact, known as a 123 Agreement, alongside a bilateral safeguards agreement, the US Energy Department said in a release.
The administration said the deal also complies with non-proliferation agreements in the US Atomic Energy Act, which are among the world’s strongest. Saudi Arabia has long said that if it does not partner with the US, it could partner with China or Russia, which have different proliferation standards.
The Energy Department said the deal now goes to Congress. Unless Congress raises enough votes to object to the deal within 90 session days, the deal will come into force. However, it would need a two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto.
Some nuclear experts called on lawmakers to vote down the deal.
“We urge all members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to recognise the risks and to exercise their power to reject or modify Trump’s proposed nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia so as not to open the door for nuclear proliferation in the Middle East even wider,” said Kelsey Davenport, director for non-proliferation policy at the Arms Control Association.
The approximately 30-year deal for the construction of AP1000 reactors, which is worth tens of billions of dollars, would benefit Westinghouse, jointly owned by Canada-based Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management.
Make us all less safe
An industry source said the deal requires a feasibility study on using US technology in Saudi Arabia. The study and the slow pace of building nuclear power plants and uranium enrichment mean it could take many years to build the infrastructure.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has repeatedly said he does not want the kingdom to build a nuclear weapon, but it would if Iran did, raising concerns about potential proliferation. Several Democratic lawmakers have warned that the deal could start an arms race in the Middle East as the US-Israeli war on Iran grinds on.
“They are allowing Saudi Arabia, a belligerent and authoritarian nation, to develop nuclear weapons technologies while starting a war with Iran under the guise of preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb,” said Senator Edward Markey, a Democrat. “This deal would make us all less safe.”
Senator Jim Risch, a Republican, said he agrees with the kingdom’s crown prince that the deal stands to benefit both countries.
