Secretary of Energy Rick Perry approved six ?secret authorizations? to allow companies to sell ?nuclear power technology and assistance? to Saudi Arabia as part of a plan to win a deal to help build at least two nuclear power facilities in the country, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a document written by the Department of Energy?s National Nuclear Security Administration.
The six approvals, known as 810 authorizations, allow for the U.S. companies to perform some preliminary work such as providing specific details of the work they will perform and sharing some information on nuclear technology, but they do not clear the companies involved to actually ship equipment to Saudi Arabia yet, a source told Reuters.
?In this case, each of the companies which received a specific authorization for (Saudi Arabia) have provided us written request that their authorization be withheld from public release,? the NNSA said in the document. In the past, the Energy Department made previous Part 810 authorizations available for the public to read at its headquarters.
A Department of Energy official said the requests contained proprietary information and that the authorizations went through multi-agency approval process.
outh Korea and Russia are among other countries?of which there are many?competing for the deal, Reuters wrote. Officially, the plants are for civilian use, but any nuclear technology transferred to Saudi Arabia could be used for weapons development.
Last month, House Democrats accused Donald Trump?s administration of attempting to sell nuclear secrets to the Saudi government, with one whistleblower suggesting that any U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal that does not undergo a legally mandated congressional review or abide by certain non-proliferation requirements could violate the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
This is particularly troubling because Saudi Arabia not only has an atrocious human rights record (including the recent torture and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi), but has stated that it will pursue the acquisition of nuclear weapons if it believes that regional rival Iran is doing so. A Washington Post article earlier this year, citing satellite imagery, noted there is speculation among ?weapons experts and image analysts? that Saudi Arabia has built a facility to produce ballistic missiles.
https://gizmodo.com/reports-trump-admin-approved-secret-deal-to-sell-u-s-1833626784
As we have Congress trying to halt aid to Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, we still have the white house pushing to have the US share Nuclear technology with them even when they have shown adamant to continue numerous human rights abuses.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/us/politics/yemen-war-saudi-arabia.html
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/11/15/saudi-arabia-rights-abuses-under-scrutiny
It is also being reported that the Saudi Nuclear deal could financially benefit a company linked to Trump's son in law Jared Kushner:
Trump administration 'pushing Saudi nuclear deal' which could benefit company linked to Jared Kushner
The report also notes one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from such a deal includes Westinghouse Electric, a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, a company which struck a deal in August to rescue the Kushner family?s 666 Fifth Avenue tower in Manhattan from massive debts.
Detailing the White House?s continued efforts to promote the deal, the report highlights how in May, energy secretary Rick Perry told a congressional committee he ?tried to really drive home? to Saudi Arabia how ?you have to use Westinghouse? for ?the best reactors in the world?.
It also notes Mr Kushner, the president?s son-in-law and adviser, allegedly remains ?directly involved? with those efforts, and that he would be travelling to Saudi Arabia in late February to ?share elements of the economic plan? of a US peace proposal in the Middle East.
So it appears again, the President very well may be willing to use his position to sell dangerous technology to benefit his family and friends. Nucleating Saudi Arabia will not be able to be undone once this is done. What would be the short term and long term impact of this decision? What could be done to stop this from happening? Would Saudi Arabia just gain access to this technology elsewhere if the US doesn't follow through? Should the US not be trying to give incentives to Saudi Arabia not to denuclearize rather than making an already volatile situation much worse?
It just appears to me this is a very bad move and will have devastating consequences for the region and shift the balance of power even further if this goes through.
