What's happening at the coalition

Jay Tilden, NENSC's Executive Director, has published a new piece on the proposed U.S.–Saudi civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Jay argues that judging the deal against the 2009 U.S.–UAE "gold standard" gets the calculus backwards — that standard was never on the table with Riyadh, and holding to it anyway doesn't strengthen nonproliferation, it just cedes the field to potential competitors like Russia and China. The real test, he writes, is what Congress finds once the actual text is public, and NENSC stands ready to help evaluate it on the merits.

In an August 6 New York Times opinion piece, NENSC Co-Chair and former Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman argues that critics of the U.S.-Saudi civil nuclear agreement have the strategic calculus backward. Poneman makes the case that U.S. engagement gives Washington greater leverage to advance rigorous nonproliferation, safety, and security standards while preserving American strategic and commercial influence. Walking away, he argues, could instead leave Russia or China better positioned to shape Saudi Arabia’s nuclear program.

NENSC Deputy Director Chris Ploch published a new commentary in POWER Magazine proposing a fifth nuclear executive order to build on the Administration's recent actions. The piece calls for modernizing federal financing authorities to prioritize the most credible and deployment-ready nuclear projects, expanding the domestic nuclear supply chain, strengthening critical fuel-cycle and isotope capabilities, and more.