In March 2017, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported, citing Zawya, that Saudi Arabia and Jordan had signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint study. It was to assess the feasibility of building two Jordanian nuclear reactors for electricity and desalination. The memorandum was one of 15 agreements reached after King Salman and King Abdullah met on 27 March 2017, together worth around USD 3.5 billion in Saudi investment. Jordan also hoped nuclear power could serve the planned Red Sea-Dead Sea project.
The report showed that nuclear energy was being seriously examined in the Middle East as a power source for large-scale desalination, as part of a broad bilateral package.