Corruptistan
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Don't know who writes such columns. If these journalists don't know the terms and conditions of NPT. Only three countries in the world are not signatories of NPT, Pakistan, Israel, and India. Saudi Arabia signed the NPT in 1988 and they have the right to build a nuclear power plant or for health sciences with the help of nuclear supplier groups/approval.
Haider, you did not read the article that was posted, it seems.
Quotes from the article:
"And then, there’s this: Any Korean sale would be covered by a generous 2011 South Korean nuclear cooperative agreement with Riyadh that explicitly authorizes the Saudis to enrich any uranium it might receive from Seoul. Under the agreement, Riyadh could enrich this material by up to 20 percent, without having to secure Seoul’s prior consent."
"As if to prove the point, late in 2020, word leaked that the Saudis have been working secretly with the Chinese to mine and process Saudi uranium ore. These are steps toward enriching uranium—and a possible nuclear weapon program."
"Unlike the Emirates, which legally renounced enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel to separate plutonium, the Kingdom insists on retaining its “right” to enrich. Also, unlike most members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Saudi Arabia refuses to allow intrusive inspections that might help the IAEA find covert nuclear weapons-related activities, if they exist, under a nuclear inspections addendum known as the Additional Protocol."
"Saudi Arabia’s enrichment program and refusal to adopt the Additional Protocol, doubled with a possible permissive South Korean reactor sale, could spell trouble."
"This sounds fine. But there’s a catch. South Korean officials insist that its APR-1400 design, which uses a Combustion Engineering data package that Westinghouse now owns, is entirely indigenous. Focusing on the matter of technology transfer authority also begs a bigger question: Does the Republic of Korea need Washington’s blessing to begin enriching uranium itself or to transfer enrichment technology to other countries, such as Saudi Arabia?
The short answer is no."
"As if to prove the point, late in 2020, word leaked that the Saudis have been working secretly with the Chinese to mine and process Saudi uranium ore. These are steps toward enriching uranium—and a possible nuclear weapon program."
"Unlike the Emirates, which legally renounced enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel to separate plutonium, the Kingdom insists on retaining its “right” to enrich. Also, unlike most members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Saudi Arabia refuses to allow intrusive inspections that might help the IAEA find covert nuclear weapons-related activities, if they exist, under a nuclear inspections addendum known as the Additional Protocol."
"Saudi Arabia’s enrichment program and refusal to adopt the Additional Protocol, doubled with a possible permissive South Korean reactor sale, could spell trouble."
"This sounds fine. But there’s a catch. South Korean officials insist that its APR-1400 design, which uses a Combustion Engineering data package that Westinghouse now owns, is entirely indigenous. Focusing on the matter of technology transfer authority also begs a bigger question: Does the Republic of Korea need Washington’s blessing to begin enriching uranium itself or to transfer enrichment technology to other countries, such as Saudi Arabia?
The short answer is no."
KSA is the biggest prize in the region for the world powers due to its tremendous riches (only Russia and the US has more natural and mineral wealth in the world), geographic size, most important/influential Islamic nation in the world, Makkah and Madinah, strategic location bordering the most strategic seas in the world (Suez, Bab al-Mandab, Strait of Hurmuz) and at the crossroads of 3 continents (Asia, Africa and Europe).
Most importantly, KSA already has access to our nuclear weapons if it will ever need one and we offer them (officially it has been stated indirectly many times) a nuclear umbrella (Makkah and Madinah) since their financing of our nuclear weapons program.
But this is here where it gets really tricky. Xi is going to visit KSA soon (apparently) and KSA will/has the Chinese option (instead of the South Korean) and also the Russian. After the Ukraine war started, KSA is the country that most benefits from this war while most others are in big economic trouble. They have more influence now than even before. Look at how world leaders have been flocking to KSA (Biden, EU President, other world and regional leaders). We will see how it will end, but KSA has all the cards on its hands. They just need to play them right.