US senators urge disclosure of details of nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia
US senators from the Democratic and Republican parties have called on President Donald Trump’s administration to declassify and publish all details of the proposed agreement with Saudi Arabia on civilian nuclear energy. This includes, in particular, two classified supplementary letters agreed with Riyadh. The Jerusalem Post reports.
Demand to publish the documents
In a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Christopher Wright, the senators noted that the United States has concluded dozens of so-called Section 123 nuclear agreements with other countries without concealing such information.
The authors of the appeal stressed that the full text of the documents is needed by the Senate and the public to understand the commitments the United States is undertaking, as well as Saudi Arabia’s commitments to Washington. The letter was led by Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. It was also signed by 13 Democratic senators, one independent senator who caucuses with the Democrats, as well as Republicans Rand Paul and John Kennedy.
The US State Department and Department of Energy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Terms and criticism of the agreement
Trump submitted the proposed agreement to Congress in August, after which lawmakers were given 90 days to review it and could adopt a resolution of disapproval. Since then, members of Congress have sought the declassification of the supplementary letters and the publication of documents related to the arrangement.
The proposed 30-year agreement provides for the construction of AP1000 reactors. The project is estimated at tens of billions of dollars; it could benefit Westinghouse, which is co-owned by Canada’s Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management.
Some Democrats and nuclear nonproliferation advocates criticize the agreement because it does not prohibit Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium or reprocessing nuclear waste. The article notes that these processes could provide pathways to creating nuclear weapons. The Trump administration says the agreement contains legally mandated nonproliferation measures.
Trump also said that the arrangement would take effect only if Riyadh normalizes relations with Israel. At the same time, congressional aides said that the agreement itself does not address this issue. The senators’ letter did not mention Israel.
