As we reported in 2017, the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, set for March 29, 2019, will also include withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Exports of nuclear materials, goods, and services from the United States to the United Kingdom currently are authorized through the US–Euratom agreement and the Euratom Cooperation Act of 1958. Essentially, these arrangements are the substitute for a bilateral agreement for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy pursuant to Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (a 123 Agreement), with each of the 28 member countries of Euratom.
In order to address the UK withdrawal from Euratom, the United States and United Kingdom have negotiated a bilateral 123 Agreement, which President Trump transmitted to Congress in May 2018. Staff from the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee have confirmed to us that the required 90 days of review during continuous session of Congress has expired with no congressional action. As such, President Trump is now free to implement the 123 Agreement.
On November 12, 2018, the British government transmitted the US–UK 123 Agreement to Parliament, and later in the month it presented the Nuclear Safeguards Regulations required to comply with the terms of the 123 Agreement. It is expected that the 123 Agreement will enter into force on a date to be agreed by the United States and United Kingdom through a ministerial exchange of diplomatic notes, which presumably will coincide with the UK withdrawal from Euratom. Thus, we do not anticipate any disruption in nuclear trade between the United States and United Kingdom.