The U.S. is currently in talks with Saudi Arabia concerning a nuclear energy programme, which Riyadh says is a means of diversifying its economy and freeing itself from a reliance on crude. An agreement for such nuclear cooperation with the U.S. is known as a 123 agreement , and as part of any such agreement that nation must abide by certain conditions as per the U.S.’ nuclear non-proliferation policy. Simply stated, this agreement stipulates that nuclear partners must agree to use nuclear technology and material for peaceful purposes only. Any agreement for nations to enrich or reprocess nuclear material must be made separately, and herein lies the heart of the issues that threaten to undermine the process. Saudi Arabia currently does not have such an agreement to enrich uranium, which is something that Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih sees as necessary. He stated that as the kingdom had large […]