The Biden administration has responded positively to Saudi Arabia’s interest in civil nuclear cooperation with the United States―both because such cooperation is a Saudi condition for the normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations, which the administration strongly supports, and because it believes a bilateral civil nuclear partnership can bring important benefits to both countries. However, such cooperation needs to be pursued in a way that can realize those benefits without increasing the risks of nuclear proliferation.
A civil nuclear deal between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) could serve ambitious Saudi nuclear energy and commercial goals and help revitalize the U.S. nuclear industry. It could authorize a wide range of cooperative activities, including a lead role for U.S. companies in building the first phase of Saudi nuclear reactors and a Saudi investment in a U.S.-based uranium enrichment operation, which could help reduce U.S. reliance on importing enriched uranium from Russia.