Saudi Arabia to give IAEA wider nuclear inspection powers Grossi says

Saudi Arabia is preparing to grant the International Atomic Energy Agency additional powers to monitor sensitive nuclear activities, although Riyadh will not sign the agency’s Additional Protocol under its planned nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday.

The United States and Saudi Arabia reached an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation in July that would allow Riyadh to enrich uranium and build nuclear reactors using U.S. technology.

The planned agreement has drawn criticism from nuclear non proliferation groups because it does not include the IAEA’s Additional Protocol, which gives inspectors broader authority, including the ability to conduct short notice inspections at undeclared sites.

Grossi said the Additional Protocol remained the “ideal setup”, but discussions with Saudi Arabia had produced plans for additional safeguards beyond those required under its existing Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA.

“What is important is that in the consultations, in the preparation process, it has been possible to introduce a number of provisions to the bilateral agreement that will give the agency additional verification and monitoring authorisations,” Grossi told reporters.

The additional measures would cover uranium conversion and enrichment, as well as reprocessing, a process that can extract plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.

“These are sensitive activities, as we all know,” Grossi said, adding that the IAEA would receive monitoring and verification powers “very, very similar” to those available under an Additional Protocol.

The safeguards issue is particularly significant because uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel reprocessing can have both civilian and military applications.

Once negotiations are completed, the bilateral agreement between the IAEA and Saudi Arabia will be submitted to the agency’s 35 member Board of Governors for consideration, Grossi said.