Washington signs a 30-year civil nuclear pact with Riyadh — and drops the no-enrichment pledge

The US and Saudi Arabia signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement on Wednesday that hands the kingdom a pathway to enrich uranium on its own soil, a latitude Washington has refused its other Gulf partners. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed the pact — a “123 agreement” under the US Atomic Energy Act — alongside a bilateral safeguards agreement, the US Department of Energy said. The deal runs 30 years and involves American firms supplying the technology and expertise to build out the Saudi program.

IN CONTEXT- Yesterday’s signature converts into binding form the Joint Declaration on the Completion of Negotiations the two governments signed during Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s November 2025 White House visit.

The agreement does not carry the “gold standard”: the binding commitment to forgo enrichment and spent-fuel reprocessing, two key steps for countries that wish to start building their own nuclear weapons. The UAE accepted exactly that in its 2009 agreement before opening Barakah, a model nonproliferation experts have long treated as the regional template. Enrichment is the fuel-cycle step that, carried far enough, yields weapons-grade material. The US-Saudi pact opens the door to a uranium enrichment facility inside the kingdom, contingent on a joint feasibility study.

What was stalling an agreement? We signed an energy cooperation roadmap earlier in May 2024, but negotiations were slow as Riyadh reportedly held back from promising that it would not enrich uranium or reprocess spent fuel. The agreement was also reportedly tied to normalization with Israel, but Washington appears to have moved on from that.

Why it matters

The reactor program just lost its central obstacle. Without a 123 agreement, US firms were barred from selling reactors or sensitive technology into the kingdom, ceding the field to France, Russia, South Korea, and China. The new agreement lets Westinghouse, Bechtel, BWXT, Centrus and other US suppliers compete for Saudi work, a market they'd otherwise have watched from the sidelines.

SOUND SMART- The 123 Agreement takes its name from Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act of 1954 that regulates nuclear cooperation between the US and other countries. The act requires potential US partners to meet specific requirements, including maintaining IAEA safeguards and the physical security of nuclear material, before an agreement can be finalized.

Up for grabs: The kingdom's tender for two reactors (c. 2.9 GWe) at Khor Duwaiheen, which drew a Westinghouse AP1000 bid among others but has sat without an award since 2022, now has its missing precondition.

Grid diversification is high on Saudi’s priorities. Nearly 60% of our electricity comes from natural gas and around 40% from oil, per the IEA. King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy's program targets roughly 17 GW of nuclear capacity by 2040, about 15% of projected electricity demand. Every GW of nuclear is a barrel of crude freed for export.

What’s next?

Prepare for a fight in Congress. The agreement now goes to Capitol Hill for a mandatory review of roughly 90 continuous session days, during which lawmakers can move to block it via joint resolutions of disapproval in both chambers. Opposition surfaced within hours, but pundits don’t think there are enough votes to block the deal yet, as it needs a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate to force the Presidency’s hand.