WASHINGTON *– Saudi Arabia is in talks with American nuclear firms to enterthe nuclear power business and erect as many as 16 nuclear reactors topurportedly only generate electricity over 25 years, a report said.*

According to the report carried by the New York Times on Sunday, the Saudisinsist the reactors would be used only to generate energy for domesticpurposes, so they can rely on their huge reserves of oil to generate incomefrom overseas.

However, there are still growing signs that the Saudis want the option ofbuilding nuclear weapons to turn into a nuclear power in the region.

Obama administration efforts to negotiate an agreement on transferringcivil nuclear technology faltered over the Saudis’ refusal to make alegally binding commitment to forgo uranium enrichment and plutoniumreprocessing, which could be used to produce fuel for nuclear weapons.

The United Arab Emirates made a commitment like that in its 2009 agreement,setting the nonproliferation “gold standard” for civil nuclear cooperationdeals.

Now new negotiations are being pursued under a president who caters to theneeds of American business and aggressively courts Saudi leaders.

In theory, Trump is well-placed to cajole the Saudis to accept the goldstandard. He can argue that it makes more sense for Riyadh to buy enrichedfuels for the reactors from relatively low-cost foreign suppliers than toproduce it in Saudi Arabia. Such an agreement will further cement ties withthe United States, which has promised to protect the kingdom from itsenemies.

But there are questions about what limits the Trump administration wouldrequire, and the Saudis would accept, as part of the agreement the twosides are about to start negotiating.

Insisting on strict conditions could force the Saudis to buy instead fromRussia or China, which do not impose such nonproliferation rules, or fromFrance and South Korea, thus penalizing a moribund American nuclearindustry eager for the lucrative new business. Westinghouse and otherAmerican-based companies are discussing a consortium to bid on themultibillion-dollar project.

However, a failure to incorporate crucial restrictions in any deal wouldleave the Saudis free to repurpose the technology for nuclear weapons.

Saudi officials are still insisting that they have a right to enrichmentand reprocessing under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, whichguarantees nations access to such technologies if they forsake nuclearweapons.

If these disagreements stalemate negotiations, the United States could losethe opportunity to impose any nonproliferation, nuclear security andnuclear safety conditions on the Saudi program at all.

That is why a compromise proposed by Robert Einhorn, a former Americannuclear negotiator, may be worth considering, but only if efforts to setstricter standards fail. It would require the Saudis to make a legallybinding commitment to forgo enrichment and reprocessing for 15 years, notindefinitely, thus kicking tough questions down the road.

Ultimately, the US Congress must assert its right to have the final say ona deal, and set strict conditions if the administration does not.

Given Trump’s flip attitude toward nuclear weapons, Congress’sresponsibility affects the nuclear future of not just Saudi Arabia, but thedecisions that Turkey, Egypt and other countries make about acquiringnuclear power.