Saudi Arabia will have to sign “a very strong 123 agreement” to be counted among the “adult members of the world community” that use nuclear power, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said this week in congressional testimony.
Perry has made that point directly to the Saudi government, the Energy Department chief told the House Science Committee Tuesday in response to a question from Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif).
In a 123 agreement, a nation certifies it will use any purchased U.S. nuclear-power hardware and expertise only for peaceful uses, and that it will adhere to strict nonproliferation standards and allow inspections of its power plants.
Bera told Perry he worries about Saudi Arabia entertaining “the competing interest of the Russians and the Chinese,” who also want to provide nuclear power to the nation. Saudia Arabia “shouldn’t go in that direction,” Bera told Perry. “[W]e’ve got the best technology and the safest technology and the best companies.”
That is about the friendliest discussion of this issue Perry has had with a congressional Democrat this year, after it became known the Energy Department authorized seven companies to share nuclear-power knowledge with the Saudi government.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a presidential candidate, roasted Perry over the decision in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in March. She told the secretary he seemed more “focused on pushing the Saudi government to hire companies like Westinghouse to build reactors than … on working with Congress to nail down an agreement that will prevent the Saudis from developing a nuclear weapon.”
Perry has maintained that Saudi Arabia can either get nuclear power from the U.S., or from countries such as Russia and China that — as he told Warren — “don’t give a tinker’s dam” about nuclear nonproliferation.
In the Science Committee hearing this week, Perry also repeated that the seven companies granted so-called 810 authorizations to talk nuclear power with Saudi Arabia were “appropriately” given anonymity to protect their trade secrets.
A DOE spokesperson did not immediately reply to requests for comment about whether the agency is discussing a 123 agreement for a technology transfer to Saudi Arabia. A State Department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on internal talks.
So-called 123 agreements and 810 authorizations are export-control measures named for the parts of the Atomic Energy Act under which they are established. Authorizations enable U.S. citizens to provide technical assistance about nuclear power, though not to export any nuclear materials. The 123 agreements set conditions for a foreign nation to actually receive U.S. equipment.
Congress can object to a 123 agreement, but lawmakers have no role in creating these deals. Saudi Arabia wants nuclear power to ease its reliance on its domestic oil and gas resources.
