Laura Rockwood on Reports of Saudi-US Nuclear Cooperation

VCDNP Executive Director Laura Rockwood has given several interviews in light of recent accusations that the United States government secretly authorized six companies to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia. According to reporting from Reuters, the authorizations would allow companies to do preliminary work on nuclear power before a deal is reached, though none of the equipment would be shipped until a formal agreement is concluded.

During her first interview with Hal Rock of Radio FM4 on 29 March 2019, Ms. Rockwood highlighted two different kinds of concerns, verification and politics.

"Saudi Arabia is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty and it does have a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] in force. Unfortunately, it also has with its agreement a protocol that suspends the implementation of safeguards until very late in the game, just before it has nuclear material in the reactor. Now, the IAEA corrected those protocols years ago, but Saudi still has the old protocol."

The protocol to which Ms. Rockwood referred is a small quantities protocol (SQP), which allows countries with little or no nuclear material to hold in abeyance many provisions of a standard comprehensive safeguards agreement (CSA). In 2005, the IAEA's Board of Governors approved a new model for SQPs, which has much stricter eligibility requirements and retains more provisions from the country's CSA. Though many countries with SQPs have since amended their protocols to reflect the new model, or in some cases rescinded the SQP altogether, Saudi Arabia maintains its old SQP.

"We need to strengthen the legal framework for verification and insist they conclude an additional protocol, which improves the Agency's ability to make sure a country isn't using supplied technology to build a nuclear weapon."

Listen to the full interview with Radio FM4 here.

Ms. Rockwood also spoke with Julian Borger of The Guardian for an article published on 4 April 2019. In the article, Ms. Rockwood again spoke about Saudi Arabia's SQP status.

“Saudi Arabia was the last country allowed to sign the old SQP. And they never agreed to adjust or rescind it.”

Read the full article here.

Most recently, Ms. Rockwood spoke with Sébastian Seibt of France 24 for an article published on 9 April 2019. In the article, Ms. Rockwood accented the nature of the facility that Saudi Arabia plans to complete in the near future.

"It’s a small reactor that is essentially designed for research and development [...] The main purpose of such installations is to train scientists and carry out medical research in such fields as cancer treatment".

Nevertheless, Ms. Rockwood pointed out again the status of Saudi Arabia's SQP as outdated.

Read the full article here.