President Donald Trump submitted a proposed 30-year civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia to the US Congress on August 24, 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. The deal allows US companies to export civilian nuclear technology, including the construction of AP1000 nuclear reactors, to Saudi Arabia [1, 2, 4, 5, 7].

An unnamed US administration official said, "The president's position has not changed that the agreement will only move forward if Saudi Arabia joins the Abraham Accords," the regional peace framework that normalizes relations with Israel [1]. Trump insists that the nuclear deal will proceed only if Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel and formally joins the Abraham Accords [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

The Abraham Accords, brokered by the US in 2020 and 2021, have already normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan [1, 2, 4, 7]. However, Saudi Arabia demands an irreversible path to a Palestinian state before it will consider recognizing Israel [1, 2, 4, 7].

The agreement is estimated to be worth tens or hundreds of billions of dollars and would benefit companies such as Westinghouse, owned by Cameco and Brookfield Asset Management [1, 4, 7]. The deal faces some criticism from Democratic lawmakers and nuclear non-proliferation advocates who argue it lacks restrictions on Saudi uranium enrichment and nuclear waste reprocessing [2, 4, 5, 7]. By comparison, the 2009 US-UAE nuclear cooperation deal included a "gold standard" on non-proliferation that barred enrichment and reprocessing, safeguards not included in the Saudi agreement [2, 4, 5, 7].

Under US law, Congress has 90 session days to review the agreement and can block it via a joint resolution during this period [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7]. If Congress rejects the deal, the president may veto the decision, requiring a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override [2, 4, 6, 7].

The US and Saudi Arabia reached the proposed nuclear cooperation agreement in July 2026 before it was formally sent to Congress in late August [1, 2, 4, 5].

Congress will complete its review within the 90-session-day window set by law, after which a vote or legislative action may take place.