As Saudis go nuclear, US seeks an edge over power rivals China, Russia

At a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna last September, word spread that Saudi Arabia had identified a handful of countries that could build two nuclear reactors in the kingdom. The US wasn’t among them -- until Energy Secretary Rick Perry buttonholed the Saudi delegates and told them America wanted in.

Within weeks, a mostly US consortium headed by Westinghouse Electric Co. had joined the race. Its executives have visited the kingdom. So has Perry, whose intervention was described by two people who attended the meeting. In the next few months, the Saudis are expected to narrow the field to two or three bidders.

A glance at the current list of contenders shows the geopolitical perils that accompany this business opportunity. American allies South Korea and France are on it -- and so are China and Russia, recently designated by the Pentagon as the main US threats. Reactor-building could become another arena of superpower rivalry.