The following is the Nov. 18, 2024, Congressional Research Service In Focus report, AUKUS Nuclear Cooperation.
From the report
On August 7, 2024, President Joseph Biden submitted to Congress an “Agreement among the Government of Australia, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Government of the United States of America for Cooperation Related to Naval Nuclear Propulsion.” This In Focus explains the agreement’s substance, as well as provisions of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) of 1954, as amended (P.L. 83-703; 42 U.S.C. §§2153 et seq.), concerning the content and congressional review of such agreements.
The 2024 agreement, which would permit the transfer of nuclear material and naval nuclear reactors among the three governments, would supersede a 2022 agreement that permitted only the transfer of Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information (NNPI) and Restricted Data (RD). The latter agreement entered into force on February 8, 2022.
Cooperation pursuant to the two agreements supports a project to develop Australian nuclear-powered submarines. This project is part of the AUKUS “enhanced trilateral security partnership,” which Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced on September 15, 2021. The United States has a similar nuclear naval propulsion arrangement only with the United Kingdom pursuant to a bilateral 1958 Mutual Defense Agreement.
The partnership’s first initiative, according to a September 15, 2021, Joint Statement, was an 18-month study “to seek an optimal pathway to deliver” this submarine capability to Australia. On March 13, 2023, Australian Prime Minister Anthony N. Albanese, U.S. President Biden, and then-British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a “phased approach” for Australian acquisition of a nuclear-powered submarine, called SSN-AUKUS, which is to be based on a “next-generation” British design and incorporate “cutting edge U.S. submarine technologies.” SSN-AUKUS “will be built and deployed by both Australia and the United Kingdom,” according to the leaders’ statement.
Agreement Details
The 2024 agreement would “permit the continued communication and exchange of NNPI, including certain RD,” among the three governments. The agreement would also permit “the transfer of naval nuclear propulsion plants,” along with associated components and spare parts, as well as “special nuclear material contained in complete, welded power units.” The agreement also includes an appendix containing detailed provisions concerning “information, physical, and personnel security.” The AEA defines RD to include “all data concerning … the use of special nuclear material in the production of energy.” The AEA and 10 C.F.R. Part 810.3 define special nuclear material as plutonium, uranium-233, or enriched uranium.
The 2022 agreement was to remain in force until December 31, 2023, after which it would “automatically extend for four additional periods of six months each.” The 2024 superseding agreement is to expire in 2075.
The three governments have concluded an “understanding” related to the July 2024 agreement that “reflects the governments’ intended approach to certain articles” of that agreement and “provides additional related political commitments.” For example, nuclear cooperation “is to be carried out in such a manner” to avoid degrading either the U.S. and British governments’ abilities “to meet their respective military requirements” or “their respective naval nuclear propulsion programs.” The understanding, which would not be legally binding, would become operative when the 2024 nuclear cooperation agreement enters into force.
Related Nuclear Cooperation Agreements
The AEA authorizes and contains requirements for nuclear cooperation agreements governing both civil and military applications. The United States has nuclear cooperation agreements with both Australia and the United Kingdom that are relevant to the AUKUS agreement. The United Kingdom is a nuclear-weapon state under the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT); Australia is not a nuclear-weapon state.
Download the document here.
