Director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano said Friday that his agency asked Saudi Arabia to agree on safeguards related to nuclear material needed for its first atomic reactor.
Amano said that Saudi Arabia may bring in nuclear material "by the end of the year," although he cautioned that nuclear projects frequently get delayed.
The Argentine-built project lies on the outskirts of Riyadh. Democrats have criticized President Donald Trump for approving nuclear projects with Saudi Arabia before studying the issue properly.
But Amano said there was nothing secret about the reactor and that Saudi Arabia informed the Vienna-based UN body about its plans in 2014.
He said the IAEA has encouraged the Kingdom to put into force a comprehensive safeguards agreement, under which the agency ensures that nuclear material is not being diverted to weapons use.
Saudi Arabia in 2005 signed with the IAEA a so-called small quantities protocol, which exempts countries from inspections if they have no or minimal nuclear programs.
"We have proposed to Saudi Arabia to rescind and replace it by the full-fledged comprehensive safeguards agreement," Amano told reporters in Washington.
"They didn't say no, they didn't say yes, and they are now giving thoughts. We are waiting," he said.
"For now, they don't have the material, so there is no violation," he said.
Saudi Arabia, the world's top crude exporter, has announced plans to spend $80 billion to build 16 nuclear reactors over the coming two decades as it diversifies energy.
The first project, being built by Argentina's state-backed nuclear company INVAP, is a so-called low power research reactor, or LPRR, that is generally used to train technicians.
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told a recent Senate hearing that his department had given the go-ahead for six applications by US companies to do nuclear work in Saudi Arabia.
