U.S. Signs Deal to Help Saudis Obtain Nuclear Power
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced that it had officially signed a deal with Saudi Arabia that officials have said could help the country enrich its own fuel for nuclear reactors.
The Energy Department said that Chris Wright, the U.S. energy secretary, and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi energy minister, had signed a deal to cooperate on civilian nuclear power. The two officials also signed what the administration described as a bilateral agreement on nuclear safeguards.
“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,” Mr. Wright said. “Thanks to President Trump, the American nuclear renaissance is underway and will deliver long-term benefits to the American and Saudi people.”
The agreement will require review by Congress, which has the power to vote a resolution of disapproval. But as a practical matter, the agreement would likely pass, because Congress would have to assemble a veto-proof majority to override Mr. Trump’s initiative.
The accord is intended to further bind the United States with the Saudi government as the war with Iran strains the relationship. The Trump administration, according to officials, estimates it will provide billions of dollars for the U.S. nuclear industry — starting with Westinghouse, which designs many of the reactors sold abroad.
The Saudi government has been trying to seal such an agreement for more than five years, pushing against opposition from American officials and experts who have raised concerns that the Persian Gulf nation could use the technology to pursue a nuclear weapon, spurring a new Middle East arms race.
This type of nuclear deal, known as a 123 Agreement because it’s named for Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, is legally binding and typically lays out rules for the transfer and storage of nuclear materials, although the president can choose to exempt countries from specific requirements.
One notable feature of the deal is that, after a joint study with Saudi Arabia on the economics of producing nuclear fuel, the Saudis may be allowed to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium on their soil, officials have said. That’s in contrast to a 2009 agreement with the United Arab Emirates, in which the U.A.E. agreed to forgo the right to produce its own fuel.
The accord has been under discussion for years, and during the Biden administration it was envisioned as part of a broader deal that would include Saudi diplomatic recognition of Israel. But after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas, that prospect receded. President Trump separated the proposal for U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear cooperation from any demand that Saudi Arabia recognize Israel.
David E. Sanger, Edward Wong, WILLIAM BROAD and Vivian Nereim contributed.
Saudi Arabia is rich in oil. Here’s why is it going nuclear.
The potential of a United States deal to allow a nuclear enrichment program in Saudi Arabia has stoked longtime fears of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, has not ruled out the possibility of building nuclear weapons in the future — especially if Iran, Saudi Arabia’s neighbor and longtime adversary, does so.
The Trump administration announced on Wednesday afternoon that the deal had been signed, but on Thursday morning President Trump put its future in doubt. After U.S. and Israeli leaders criticized the deal, the president mentioned for the first time that the agreement would be conditioned on Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel — which has a secretive nuclear program of its own.
The Saudi government has made clear it has no intention of recognizing Israel without creating a pathway toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
But Saudi Arabia’s interest in building a nuclear energy program goes back decades. And despite fears of nuclear proliferation in the region if the deal is salvaged, the kingdom may have some additional motivations for building a nuclear energy program that are unrelated to developing weapons.
Here are a few key reasons Saudi Arabia may want a civilian nuclear energy program.
To diversify its economy
In 2022, crude oil accounted for 40 percent of Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product. The country’s leaders have long believed that the nation’s economic survival will depend on reducing reliance on fossil fuel exports.
Despite a wealth of natural resources, Saudi Arabia has recorded a budget deficit in all but one of the past 10 years. And it has expensive ambitions, including sci-fi-like construction projects and plans to build power-hungry artificial intelligence data centers.
The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has demonstrated the risks of an economy that depends heavily on oil. Blockades in the Strait of Hormuz have sharply reduced Saudi Arabia’s oil exports, though experts say the steep, war-driven rise in oil prices has helped counteract the economic blow.
Leaders have hoped Saudi Arabia could also become a major exporter of uranium ore. However, it is unclear whether the nation’s deposits are plentiful or accessible enough to meaningfully contribute to the economy.
But if Saudi Arabia is allowed to enrich uranium — whether mined domestically or imported — it could use the material to help meet its growing energy needs, freeing up more of its fossil fuel reserves for sale to other countries.
To forward a vision of modernization
A decade ago, Prince Mohammed announced sweeping plans to transform Saudi Arabia, declaring that he would end its “addiction” to oil.
The plans, known as the Vision 2030 initiative, included major financial reforms, cultural changes and construction projects.
Saudi leaders have also announced ambitious climate goals. In 2021, the country pledged to produce half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
Today, those goals appear out of reach. Less than 1 percent of Saudi Arabia’s electricity is generated by solar and wind, with almost all the rest produced by gas and oil, according to the World Nuclear Association. Climate researchers and activists have accused the kingdom of disrupting global climate summits, impeding agreements to decrease reliance on fossil fuels.
Nevertheless, leaders in Saudi Arabia may see a nuclear enrichment program as part of the green, modernizing vision they have espoused to foreign governments, businesses and their own people.
To boost prestige
Saudi leaders know that developing a domestic nuclear energy program — with the understanding that weapons could follow — will also have implications for the kingdom’s regional and global standing.
Even without weapons-grade uranium, Saudi leaders may see a nuclear energy program as the first step toward building a deterrent to nuclear-armed nations.
The deal also allows Saudi Arabia to deepen its ties with the United States. During years of negotiations with U.S. leaders over the terms of a possible Saudi nuclear program, the kingdom repeatedly threatened to work on the technology with other countries, including China and Russia.
But Neil Quilliam, a Middle East energy policy expert at the London-based research institute Chatham House, said the kingdom waited to find a path forward with the United States because of “the young Saudi leadership’s confidence in the U.S. remaining the dominant geopolitical player for decades to come.”
Vivian Nereim contributed reporting from Riyadh.
The Saudi Wahhabis are the real foe
Since 2001 our policy for fighting Islamic terrorists has been, to put it politely, missing the elephant in the room, sort of like treating symptoms and completely missing the disease.
Policymakers and slow-thinking bureaucrats stupidly let terrorism grow by ignoring the roots. So we lost a generation: Someone who went to grammar school in Saudi Arabia (our “ally”) after September 11 is now an adult, indoctrinated into believing and supporting Salafi violence, hence encouraged to finance it — while we got distracted by the use of complicated weapons and machinery.
Even worse, the Wahhabis have accelerated their brainwashing of East and West Asians with their madrassas, thanks to high oil revenues.
So instead of invading Iraq, blowing up Jihadi John and individual terrorists, thus causing a multiplication of these agents, it would have been be easier to focus on the source of all problems: the Wahhabi/Salafi education and the promotion of intolerance by which a Shiite or a Yazidi or a Christian are deviant people.
If we absolutely need to put people in Guantanamo, it would be far more effective to ship the Salafi preachers and Wahhabi clerics over there, not just the people swayed by their teaching. And if we need to correct the profound Saudi problem, we need to start by sending to them our preachers, educating them into tolerance, explaining the very concept of the separation of church and state. Or, better even, encourage Muslim preachers who promote religious tolerance (“laka dinak wa li dini“) — instead of seeing them ostracized.
And if you find violence unavoidable, it should be directed at the Saudi and Qatari funders of violence, as well as the Salafi theorists, rather than the young performers.
P.S. Beware the usual ISIL crypto-sympathizer who sort of “explains” (that is, justifies) what happened (the intentional targeting of civilians) with some other Western event that can hark all the way to the Crusades… Otherwise it is presented as “biased.” You can spot such people from a mile away. For them, you cannot condemn ISIL without at the same time trying to be “balanced.” Who are they fooling? This is the technique of bundling together problems that should be treated independently, and you need to learn to deal with such people by forcing them to discuss the problem of ISIL on its own.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb is the author, among other books, of “The Black Swan,” and a founder of the Real World Risk Institute.
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