From the Liveblog of
Monday, September 16, 2024
Saudi Arabia plans to allow tougher nuclear oversight by IAEA
Saudi Arabia plans to scrap light-touch oversight of its nuclear facilities by the UN atomic watchdog and switch to regular safeguards by the end of this year, the kingdom says, a step the watchdog has long been calling for.
Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear program that it wants to expand to eventually include activities like proliferation-sensitive uranium enrichment. It is unclear where its ambitions end, since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said for years it will develop nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran does.
Riyadh has yet to fire up its first nuclear reactor, which allows its program to still be monitored under the Small Quantities Protocol (SQP), an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that exempts less advanced states from many reporting obligations and inspections.
“The kingdom… has submitted a request to the agency in July 2024 to rescind the Small Quantities Protocol and implement to the full Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement,” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman tells the IAEA’s annual General Conference, speaking through an interpreter.
“We are currently working with the agency to finalize all necessary subsidiary agreements for the SQP to be effectively rescinded by the end of December of this year.”
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has been calling on the dozens of states that still have SQPs to amend or rescind them, calling them a “weakness” in the global non-proliferation regime.
“Saudi Arabia’s decision to rescind its Small Quantities Protocol increases (the IAEA)’s ability to verify the peaceful use of nuclear material in the country,” Grossi says on social media platform X, adding he commended Riyadh for the move.
