Trump’s Saudi nuclear deal reaches Congress amid proliferation fears

President Donald Trump submitted a proposed agreement with Saudi Arabia on civil nuclear energy to Congress on Monday, starting a mandatory review period for a pact that would open the kingdom to U.S. nuclear technology.

A U.S. official confirmed the submission to MS NOW, saying the agreement, led by the Department of Energy, is consistent with the Atomic Energy Act. The president’s position remains unchanged: the accord will move forward only if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords, the official said.

The Wall Street Journal reported the submission on Tuesday.

The deal, reached in July, would allow U.S. companies to export civilian nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. The 30-year accord also calls for the kingdom to build AP1000 reactors, a project worth tens of billions of dollars that would benefit Westinghouse, jointly owned by Canada-based Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management.

Congress now has 90 days of continuous session to review the agreement, which would go into effect absent objection. U.S. cooperation with foreign nations to develop civilian nuclear power requires such review under the Atomic Energy Act.

Trump has suggested the agreement’s terms would prevent Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium. “There will be no enrichment of material!” the president said in a social media post last month, adding that the agreement is “totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords.”

Some Democratic lawmakers and nonproliferation advocates have criticized the pact for not including a permanent prohibition on enrichment or reprocessing, and for weakening standard controls against converting the technology to military use. Instead, the deal proposes a U.S.-built and operated enrichment facility subject to a two-year feasibility study.

“Washington is right to strengthen its relationship with Riyadh, but it should not do so at the expense of its effective nuclear weapons nonproliferation standards,” Matthew Kroenig, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank the Atlantic Council, said in July.

Kroenig expects the two-year feasibility study to conclude that Saudi Arabia should rely solely on imported fuel-cycle services, as most countries with peaceful nuclear programs do. “This would be a much better outcome than exporting a bomb-making capability to an additional country in an already volatile region,” he said.

The landmark agreement also comes at a time when the decades-long U.S.-led global nuclear order is already fraying, said Erin Dumbacher, Stanton nuclear security senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“It takes a distinct approach from the stringent nonproliferation measures the United States has insisted on in the past when exporting nuclear energy,” said Dumbacher, who also served in the Department of Defense in the Office of the Under Secretary for Policy.  

“It becomes a slippery slope toward more countries having nuclear material without the measures that have kept the total number of countries with nuclear weapons to only nine. More nuclear material unchecked around the world could lead to accidents, security risks, and more proliferation,” said Dumbacher.

Riyadh has indicated that it would not normalize ties with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized, a position that has hardened since the Gaza war began in 2023.

Saudi officials have also said the kingdom would pursue nuclear weapons capability if Iran develops it.