The U.S. Pursues Saudi Nuclear Deal, Despite Proliferation Risk

Based on your readings what challenges might the U.S. face in negotiating and communicating with Middle Eastern negotiators.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-resistance-to-nuclear-standards-could-roil-u-s-reactor-deal-1519122600

Solution

The US, specifically the Trump administration is facing difficulties in pursuing negotiations with the Saudi Arabia for its nuclear reactors. The US is committed to following stringent restrictions on the proliferation of the nuclear weapons. The Saudi’s are aiming to build 16 nuclear reactors on shifting their energy supply to nuclear energy. The US, with its company Westinghouse is one of the competitors for this deal. The other competitors are from China, Russia, France, and South Korea.  These companies are not only better financially than the US Company, but some of these are also backed by governments. From the Saudi perspective, these other competitors are also offering less strict restrictions to win the deal.

The problem is that the Saudi government is not acceptable to commit to the gold standard. The gold standard enforces the country, not to reprocess the spent fuel for production of plutonium, which is an important step in producing the nuclear weapons.

The critics have argued that Saudi does not need to have any nuclear energy plans, as they do not need to transfer their energy source. They are well proficient in the supply of energy source by other mediums. The Saudi has taken the stand that they want to change their energy supply source so they can sell their crude oil to get better revenues in its place. Moreover, they also do not want to commit to any restriction for future considerations.

It has become a problem for the US Company, which is also facing problems financially being hurt by its competitors locally and internationally. Even if the prospective benefits of the deal for the US nuclear energy sector are immense, the cost of gaining it in the shape of lowered restrictions of proliferation does not seem to be worth it (Gordon, Puko and Said).

Work Cited

Gordon, Michael R., Timothy Puko and Summer Said. “U.S. Pursues Saudi Nuclear Deal, Despite Proliferation Risk.”  The Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal, 20 February 2018. Web. 25 February 2018. https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-resistance-to-nuclear-standards-could-roil-u-s-reactor-deal-1519122600.

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