During the recent visit to Washington of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Sauda slew of agreements were signed on trade, defence, critical minerals, nuclear co-operation. According to the White House fact sheet: “The United States and Saudi Arabia signed a Joint Declaration on the Completion of Negotiations on Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation, which builds the legal foundation for a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar nuclear energy partnership with the Kingdom; confirms that the United States and American companies will be the Kingdom’s civil nuclear cooperation partners of choice; and ensures that all cooperation will be conducted in a manner consistent with strong non-proliferation standards.”
With respect to critical minerals, the fact sheet said: “The United States and Saudi Arabia also signed a Critical Minerals Framework, deepening collaboration and aligning our national strategies to diversify critical mineral supply chains. This agreement builds on similar deals President Trump secured with other trading partners to safeguard America’s supply chain resilience for essential minerals.”
However, for any further nuclear development to take place with the US, Saudi Arabia will be expected to sign a ‘123 Agreement’ Under Section 123 of the 1954 US Atomic Energy Act, the US may engage in significant civil nuclear cooperation with other nations provided nine non-proliferation criteria are met. These are designed to prevent US technology from being used to develop nuclear arms or to transfer sensitive nuclear materials to others. These include foregoing enrichment and reprocessing capabilities – something Saudi Arabia is unlikely to accept as its nuclear plans extend beyond simply buying reactors.
Saudi Arabia wants to benefit from the entire nuclear value chain, not just to generate nuclear energy, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Climate Envoy Adel Al-Jubeir said during the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos. “We want to have a nuclear programme in Saudi Arabia to produce energy, we have between 1% and 4%, according to estimates, of the world’s uranium deposits in country, it makes a lot of sense to exploit those resources economically by mining it – it makes even more sense that once you mine it, that you engage in the processing to turn the uranium into fuel that you can sell at a higher price,” he said.
He added: “We do not want to be a country where mining companies come to extract minerals and transport them abroad for processing, refining and producing energy outside the country, so that we end up with a hole in the ground and benefit from only 10 percent of the value.” Also in 2024, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud told a conference in Dhahran that the country plans to enrich, sell, and create “yellowcake” from its uranium resources.
Saudi Arabia wants to reduce its dependence on external fuel suppliers, and this includes its reserves, which are sufficient for domestic purposes. These are currently being mined in cooperation with China, despite the project being described by the IAEA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency as “severely uneconomic”.
Saudi Arabia’s first nuclear research reactor (centre) in King Abdulaziz City for Atomic & Renewable Energy (KACARE) on the outskirts of Riyadh is nearing completion. In September 2024, Energy Minister Al-Saud, who is also Chairman of KACARE Board, announced that the kingdom would sign a full Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and rescind the Small Quantities Protocol (SQP), which exempts less advanced states from many reporting obligations and inspections.
He told the IAEA’s 68th General Conference that Saudi Arabia had completed the essential administrative preparations related to nuclear regulatory framework and the requirements for implementing a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and also submitted a request to the IAEA in July to rescind the SQP. “We are currently working with the Agency to finalise all necessary subsidiary agreements for the SQP to be effectively rescinded by the end of December of this year 2024,” he said. “Saudi Arabia’s decision to rescind its Small Quantities Protocol increases [the IAEA]’s ability to verify the peaceful use of nuclear material in the country,” Grossi said on X, and commended the move.
As part of developing its cooperation with IAEA, the Kingdom in August deposited its instrument for acceptance of the IAEA’s Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities. “The Kingdom is committed to several international instruments related to nuclear fields, including those concerning nuclear security, safety, and safeguards,” Al Saud said.
However, Saudi Arabia has categorically refused to sign and ratify the IAEA’s Additional Protocol (AP), which requires additional obligations and inspections. The Saudis perceive the protocol to be constraining, and do not wish to undergo further scrutiny if not required by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Saudi Arabia argues that it is their right, under the NPT, to enrich uranium for domestic energy purposes. They refuse to be subjected to double standards, given that India and Japan received “blanket consents” to seek enrichment or reprocessing capabilities under their respective 123 agreements. Moreover, Iran, was allowed to enrich uranium under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) (now expired) and the Saudis are similarly seeking to develop an indigenous nuclear programme. Currently, the extent of Saudi nuclear ambitions remains unclear. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 and again in 2023 that the kingdom would develop nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran did.
The Saudi government has long sought to develop commercial nuclear reactors with the aim of reducing the use of fossil fuels to produce power for water desalination and for meeting the needs of its growing urban population as well as its plans to further develop AI. Saudi Arabia announced its intentions to develop nuclear energy in 2015. The kingdom later clarified its strategy and focused on two nuclear power plants. The tender selection for a supplier of nuclear power plant projects started in 2017.
Saudi Arabia has not indicated any intention of negotiating a 123 Agreement with the US, which would have to be approved by Congress, and which is a fundamental requirement for American firms to sell civilian nuclear reactor technologies abroad. The Saudi government has threatened to turn to China or Russia for nuclear reactors if the US is not forthcoming.
In 2018, it was reported that Rosatom had submitted an application to participate in the tender for the construction of a NPP in Saudi Arabia. Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister co-chairman of the Joint Russian-Saudi Intergovernmental Commission, has now said Russia is preparing to participate in the tender. “Preparations for the tender are underway. Our Saudi colleagues must determine specific dates, but the conditions and countries that want to participate are now known. Companies prepare tender documents accordingly,” he noted.
