The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have reached a peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement for a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership. But the agreement with Saudi Arabia to help the kingdom not only to build nuclear power plants but also to enrich the uranium fuel is sparking fears of a nuclear arms race across the Middle East.
The peaceful nuclear cooperation agreement, commonly known as a 123 agreement, alongside an accompanying bilateral safeguards agreement, was signed by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on July 22. The agreement will now be transmitted to Congress for review.
“Together, these two agreements lay the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership that advances several priority economic and strategic objectives, including nuclear nonproliferation,” the U.S. Department of Energy said in a press release.
The 123 agreement provides great access for American companies in the Saudi nuclear energy program, benefiting American industry, workers, and supply chains while helping to meet Saudi energy needs.
The two agreements also advance U.S. and regional security by upholding high standards of nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation and strengthening the United States’ competitive edge in civil nuclear technology, the U.S. Department of Energy said.
“These agreements reflect our two nations’ shared commitment to strengthening U.S.-Saudi commercial relations, delivering prosperity at home and security to our allies abroad,” said Secretary Wright. “Rest assured, these agreements uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation, while relying on the world’s best nuclear technology and scientists, designed right here in the United States. Thanks to President Trump, the American nuclear renaissance is underway and will deliver long-term benefits to the American and Saudi people,” he added.
The U.S. Department of Energy said that under the leadership of President Trump, America is restoring its competitive edge in the global civil nuclear marketplace. This agreement builds on President Trump’s Executive Order, Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security, and specifically Section 8 on Promoting American Nuclear Exports, which supports an expansion of international partners for U.S. civil nuclear cooperation under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.
This partnership will expand American nuclear technology exports; create high-paying U.S. jobs and long-term economic growth; strengthen America’s energy and national security posture; reinforce global nonproliferation standards and deepen the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the Department of Energy declared in its press statement.
President Donald Trump announced a new condition on July 23, a day after the deal was signed, stating that the U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal hinges on Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel. Trump’s strong preference is for Saudi Arabia to join the so-called Abraham Accords, perhaps the most lasting diplomatic achievement of Trump’s first term. But after the Israel – Gaza War which began in October 2023 — possibly because Hamas understood Riyadh was close to signing onto the Accords under former President Joe Biden and moved to stop progress — the Saudis firmly declared this was not possible until a credible path to a Palestine State was set in place. Accordingly the nuclear deal may well be in limbo until a creative diplomatic solution is found.
Llewellyn King, Executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle” on PBS, argued in his e-mailed weekly column on July 25 there is no reason for the Saudis to enrich uranium. There are plenty of willing suppliers of enriched uranium and more are coming online.
“Besides, it has always seemed curious that Saudi Arabia, with its huge fossil reserves and its abundant, reliable sunshine, should want to stress its industrial infrastructure with a nuclear power program when it clearly doesn’t need it. We are at war with Iran not because of nuclear power, but because it refuses to abandon its enrichment ambitions,” King wrote.
Enrichment raises the potency of uranium fuel by increasing the amount of the fissile isotope Uranium-235. Today’s generation of light water reactors — the workhorses that provide about 20 percent of U.S. electricity — use uranium that has been enriched by 3 percent to 5 percent. The uranium for the new small modular reactors will be enriched by about 20 percent.
“Weapons-grade enrichment is generally considered to be uranium that has been enriched by over 90 percent. But Ernie Moniz, who was Secretary of Energy in the Biden administration and is a nuclear physicist, told a conference organized by the Earthshot Foundation on June 8 that “you can make a pretty good bomb” with 60 percent- enriched uranium, a reference to the Iranian stockpile that we are trying to destroy,” King wrote.
“I have been covering nuclear power — and by extension nuclear proliferation — for more than 50 years. For most of that time, Saudi Arabia has hankered for nuclear power and enrichment. The question is why,” he asked.
The U.S.- Saudi Arabia deal comes at a time when many nations would like to start down the weapons path.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saudi Arabia seeks to have a peaceful, civil nuclear program. “Suffice it to say that any agreement that we’re going to make with any country in the world on civil nuclear energy is going to be one that will have safeguards in place to ensure that it can’t be turned into a weapons program. And one of the best safeguards is to make sure that American technology and American companies are the ones that are involved in doing it. If, on the other hand, a country pursues nuclear technology with another country, well then, we don’t really control those safeguards,” he said in statements to the press.
“Other countries do as well. We have a similar agreement in place now with the UAE, and U.S. companies are the world standard in providing that. And so, we are always looking for opportunities, by the way, not just in conventional reactors but in small modular reactors, which is an area that we are increasingly around signing MOUs all over the world to help do as well,” Rubio said.
King argued that Saudi Arabia’s neighbors in that volatile region will soon be at Rubio’s door looking for nuclear power — and enrichment. “First up, expect Turkey, then Egypt,” King argued. “If Congress approves Rubio’s deal, then a nuclear arms race in the Middle East is more or less assured. Is there a worse place to have that happen?”