GS Paper: GS2-20.Important International institutions, agencies and fora…

Why in the News

1. The United States and Saudi Arabia have concluded a civil nuclear cooperation agreement while the wider region remains unsettled by the US Iran conflict.
2. Saudi Arabia has not adopted the IAEA Additional Protocol, raising the question of how much oversight this new nuclear relationship actually carries.

What is the IAEA Additional Protocol?

1. Definition: The Additional Protocol is a legal instrument that gives the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expanded rights to inspect and verify a country’s nuclear activities beyond its baseline safeguards agreement.
2. Effect: A state that signs it must declare a wider range of nuclear related activities and permit broader IAEA access to sites.
3. India’s position: India’s own Additional Protocol with the IAEA entered into force in 2014, covering only its civilian nuclear facilities.
4. Saudi status: Saudi Arabia has not adopted the Additional Protocol, leaving its nuclear activities under a narrower verification regime than India’s.

Why does the absence of the Additional Protocol matter here?

1. Verification gap: Without the Additional Protocol, the IAEA has narrower legal access to confirm that Saudi nuclear material is not diverted toward weapons use.
2. Weaponisation risk: Critics read the deal, agreed without this safeguard, as tolerating a higher proliferation risk in a volatile region.
3. Precedent concern: Allowing a partner state nuclear cooperation without the stricter protocol could weaken the norm that such protocols are a baseline expectation.
4. Political linkage: The Trump administration has separately linked nuclear cooperation to shifting conditions on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords.

Conclusion

1. The deal proceeds without the stronger IAEA verification standard that a comparable agreement, such as India’s own, already carries.
2. Whether the absence of the Additional Protocol becomes a lasting proliferation risk depends on whether Saudi Arabia is later pressed to adopt it.

“[2018] In the Indian context, what is the implication of ratifying the ‘Additional Protocol’ with the ‘International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’? (a) The civilian nuclear reactors come under IAEA safeguards.

(b) The military nuclear installations come under the inspection of IAEA.

(c) The country will have the privilege to buy uranium from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

(d) The country automatically becomes a member of the NSG. Answer: (a)”