US Senator requests government to close nuclear power plant construction talks with Saudi

[Reuters, Washington 18]-US Senate Democrats Edward Marky and Jeff Markley sent letters to Secretary of State Pompeeo and Secretary Perry Energy on the 18th to discuss talks with Saudi Arabia about the nuclear power plant construction plan Asked to abort. Reuters confirmed the contents of the letter. Both members are members of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

Secretary Perry told reporters at a nuclear meeting in Vienna on the 17th that the U.S. grants nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia only if it agrees to a compulsory unannounced inspection by a UN agency. It was.

However, Saudi refuses to accept the strict standards for nuclear non-proliferation (gold standard), which requires the abandonment of enrichment and reprocessing of uranium. Last year, Crown Prince Muhammad, Saudi's de facto power, said Saudi would not want nuclear weapons, but if his nemesis Iran developed nuclear weapons, Saudi would also aim to develop.

Marky and Markley are concerned about the situation in which Saudi is reluctant to agree on the gold standard. The letter said, “Sharing nuclear technology with Saudi, especially without proper military diversion prevention measures, will give the Saudi government an indispensable tool for the realization of Prince Muhammad's nuclear weapons initiative.”