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US Oked Nuclear Power Sharing With Saudi by Mightymanna(m): 10:38pm On Jun 04, 2019 |
The Trump administration granted
two authorisations to US companies to
share sensitive nuclear power
information with Saudi Arabia not
long after the killing of journalist
Jamal Khashoggi in October, a US
senator who saw the approvals said on
Tuesday.
The timing of the approvals is likely to
heap pressure on the administration
of US President Donald Trump from
politicians who have become
increasingly critical of US support for
Saudi Arabia since Khashoggi was
killed in the Saudi consulate in
Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
US intelligence agencies have
concluded that Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman ordered the
murder - a conclusion the kingdom
denies.
Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat from
Virginia where Khashoggi lived, called
the timing of the approvals "shocking".
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The Department of Energy granted the
first Part 810 authorisation on October
18, 16 days after Khashoggi, who was
a US resident, was killed. The second
occurred on February 18.
The
authorisations
were among
seven granted to
US companies
by Trump's
administration
since 2017, as
Washington and
Riyadh
negotiate a
potential wider
agreement to
help Saudi
Arabia develop
its first two
nuclear power
reactors.
The Part 810 authorisations allow
companies to do preliminary work on
nuclear power in advance of any deal,
but not ship equipment that would go
into a plant, a source with knowledge
of the agreements told Reuters News
Agency in late March.
'A free pass'
Kaine, who had urged the
administration to release the
authorisations, said that the approvals
were "one of the many steps the
administration is taking that is fueling
a dangerous escalation of tension in
the region".
The authorisations were first reported
in March, but it was not yet known if
any were issued after Khashoggi's
killing.
The Energy Department has kept the
companies involved in the sharing of
nuclear technology information with
the kingdom confidential, citing the
need to protect business interests. In
the past, 810 approvals have been
made available for the public to view
at department headquarters.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Kaine accused
the Department of Energy of dragging
its feet on revealing the dates of the
authorisations.
"They wouldn't give us the date and
they dragged it out for two and a half
months because they knew that we
would be shocked when we got the
information about it," Kaine said.
"There is something going on where
Saudi Arabia gets just a complete free
pass that no other nation in the world
gets from this administration. I don't
know why that it is but I think we
have to dig into it and figure it out,"
Kaine said, citing the disastrous war in
Yemen and the Trump
administration's unwillingness to
respond with sanctions for Khashoggi's
murder.
"I want to dig into the companies that
get the nuclear approval. I think we
need to do more work to explore their
financial ties to the Trump family," he
added.
Energy Department officials were not
immediately available for comment.
Concerns over nuclear arms
race
Many US legislators are concerned that
sharing nuclear technology with Saudi
Arabia could eventually lead to a
nuclear arms race in the Middle East .
Politicians have
been anxious to
be kept updated
about talks on
nuclear power
between the
administration
and Riyadh to make sure a deal
contains strict nuclear
nonproliferation standards. Last year,
Crown Prince Mohammed said the
kingdom does not want to acquire a
nuclear bomb, but if Iran did, "we will
follow suit as soon as possible".
Riyadh plans to issue a multibillion-
dollar tender in 2020 to build its first
two nuclear power reactors, sources
said in April. Originally expected last
year, the tender has been delayed
several times.
The US, South Korea, Russia, China and
France are competing for the business.
US reactor builder Westinghouse,
owned by Brookfield Asset
Management Inc, would likely sell
nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in
any deal that involved US technology.
Legislators have also accused the
administration of attempting to evade
Congress on sharing nuclear power
with the kingdom.
Separately, Trump swept aside
objections from Congress last month to
complete the sale of over $8bn of
weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United
Arab Emirates and Jordan.
Citing Iran, the Trump administration
circumvented a long-standing
precedent for congressional review of
major weapons sales.
With additional reporting by William
Roberts in Washington, DC. SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES |
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