Saudi Arabia may one day enrich uranium on its own soil. The United Arab Emirates, which signed a similar deal with Washington in 2009, gave up that option for good.
That difference sits at the center of the new US-Saudi civil nuclear agreement. The two countries signed it under Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act of 1954, along with a separate bilateral nuclear safeguards agreement. Together they set up a 30-year civilian nuclear partnership.
What a 123 agreement is
Section 123 is the legal route the United States uses to cooperate with other countries on civilian nuclear energy. The condition is that safeguards against military use stay in place. Many countries already have such agreements with Washington.
What is in the Saudi deal
American companies get priority when Saudi Arabia builds its civilian nuclear infrastructure. For now the kingdom will import its nuclear fuel.
Enrichment is the open question. A two-year joint feasibility study will test whether enriching uranium inside Saudi Arabia makes commercial sense. If it does, US companies could build the facilities under what the agreement calls a “black box arrangement,” with the sensitive technology staying under American control.
Saudi Arabia will continue to work under the IAEA Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. It is not required to adopt the IAEA Additional Protocol, which allows more intrusive inspections. Non-proliferation experts have criticized that omission.
A condition attached
The US has made the agreement’s implementation conditional on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords and normalizing relations with Israel, according to ClearIAS. Riyadh says normalization requires an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. So when the deal takes effect is still uncertain.
Why critics are uneasy
Enrichment has two faces. Low-enriched uranium fuels civilian reactors; highly enriched uranium can be used in weapons. Critics argue the deal could weaken decades of non-proliferation norms and might push Iran, Turkey and Egypt to seek enrichment of their own.
Iran, which says its programme is peaceful, keeps enriching despite international pressure. Saudi rights to enrich could strengthen Tehran’s argument that peaceful enrichment is a sovereign right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that could make future nuclear talks harder.
Why Riyadh and Washington want it
Saudi Arabia has pursued a civilian nuclear programme as part of its Vision 2030 diversification plan, to meet rising electricity demand and eventually burn less oil at home. Iran’s expanding programme has added to its interest. The United States, for its part, wants to keep the kingdom from turning to China or Russia for nuclear technology, and to widen the reach of American nuclear firms.
India imports nearly 40% of its crude oil from West Asia, so any escalation in the Saudi-Iran rivalry matters there. Delays in normalization could also slow the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.
