US Democrats look to stop Trump's Saudi nuclear deal

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - US House of Representatives Democrats raised concerns on Thursday about President Donald Trump's civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, and said they had introduced a resolution of disapproval seeking to block the deal from coming into force.

Trump sent the proposed agreement to Congress in August, opening a 90-day window for lawmakers' review and giving them an opportunity to try to pass a resolution of disapproval.

Democrats and nonproliferation advocates have criticized the nuclear pact for not barring ​Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium or reprocessing nuclear waste, two potential pathways to a nuclear weapon. The United Arab Emirates agreed to such measures, known as the gold standard, in its 2009 civil nuclear deal with Washington.

"A region already gripped by conflict and escalation does not need another nuclear power," the four Democrats — Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Brad Sherman and John Garamendi of California, and Don Beyer of Virginia — said in a statement.

The Trump administration says the deal has nonproliferation measures required by ⁠law.

It is not clear whether Saudi Arabia will get the deal without normalizing relations with Israel. Trump has said the pact will only go into effect if Riyadh does so, but congressional aides said there is nothing in the agreement addressing that issue.

Members of Congress have also called for all of the agreement — including classified "side letters" reached with Saudi Arabia — to be made public.

The 30-year nuclear deal calls for the construction of AP1000 reactors, a project worth tens of billions of dollars that would benefit Westinghouse, jointly owned by Canada-based Cameco CCO.TO and Brookfield Asset Management BAM.N.

It is unclear when the House might vote on the resolution. Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday sent members home until after the November 3 midterm elections.

Additionally, while Congress has passed dozens of disapproval resolutions over the years, no resolution regarding nuclear power or civil nuclear cooperation has ever successfully passed.

Under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, agreements for peaceful nuclear cooperation automatically go into effect after 90 days if Congress has not passed a disapproval resolution to block them.