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Saudi Arabia Signs Small Quantities Protocol
Saudi Arabia signed an agreement today that limits the scope of International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of the nation’s nuclear facilities, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 15). The United States, European Union and Australia had opposed Saudi Arabia adopting the Small Quantities Protocol, a 1971 agreement that limits inspections in countries with small nuclear programs. The protocol allows Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty member states to forgo reporting possession of up to 10 tons of natural uranium and 2.2 pounds of plutonium. The rule also allows new nuclear facilities to be kept secret until six months prior to operation. Ten tons of natural uranium can be converted into highly enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon, according to AFP. One Western diplomat said the board did not consider Saudi Arabia to be a nuclear proliferation threat. “The problem regarding the SQP is philosophical and is no way related to any concerns regarding Saudi nuclear activities,” the diplomat told reporters here today (Greg Webb, Global Security Newswire, June 16). Delegates at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna were debating today whether to keep the protocol in effect, although no action is expected to be taken on the agreement at this board session (Agence France-Presse, June 16).
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