The US is set to publicly announce a landmark civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, a deal valued in the tens of billions of dollars that would allow the kingdom to develop nuclear power infrastructure, including the controversial capability to enrich uranium on its own territory.

President Donald Trump has approved the 30-year pact, which positions American companies as the primary partners in building Saudi Arabia’s nuclear reactors and enrichment facilities. The formal public announcement is expected by July 22, 2026.

What’s actually in the deal

The agreement follows what’s known as the “123 agreement” framework, the legal mechanism the US uses to share civilian nuclear technology with other countries.

A Joint Declaration was signed on November 18, 2025, by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington. Draft negotiations wrapped up in October 2025, with Trump’s formal approval coming between July 21 and 22, 2026.

The agreement reportedly does not require Saudi Arabia to adopt the IAEA Additional Protocol, the more stringent set of monitoring and inspection rules that the US has traditionally insisted on when sharing nuclear technology. The deal includes safeguards, but not the toughest ones available. The kingdom gets access to enrichment technology, which is the same process that, depending on the degree of enrichment, can produce fuel for power plants or material for weapons.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 that if Iran develops a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia would follow suit.

Why this is a departure from precedent

The United Arab Emirates signed a 123 agreement in 2009 that explicitly prohibited uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing on Emirati soil. That deal was widely praised as the “gold standard” for nuclear cooperation agreements.

Saudi Arabia is getting a very different arrangement. The inclusion of enrichment rights represents a significant concession that changes the calculus for nuclear diplomacy across the entire region.

Under US law, 123 agreements must be submitted to Congress for review, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have previously expressed reservations about nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia.

What this means for investors

A deal worth tens of billions of dollars for US nuclear firms would create a pipeline of contracts sustained across the 30-year agreement window, with American companies leading the construction of power reactors and enrichment facilities.

The 123 agreement framework essentially locks in US firms as preferred partners, providing a built-in American competitive advantage in the Saudi market.

If Saudi Arabia develops domestic enrichment capacity with US assistance, it could eventually become a player in the global uranium market, affecting pricing dynamics for enriched uranium that currently flow through a handful of major suppliers.