185 



through networks of bilateral agreements for selective nation-to-nation exchange 

 without benefit of the balance wheel of international considerations? 



Shall the peacetime production and utilization of nuclear materials around 

 the world be carried out under international codes and standards for health and 

 safety, or shall we permit the peaceful exploitation of atomic energy under vary- 

 ing, perhaps conflicting, and certainly confusing, and only partially effective, na- 

 tionally imposed standards for health and safety? 



Shall the nations seek in unison to establish and maintain uniform, prac- 

 tical rules to prevent the diversion for military purposes of nuclear materials 

 supplied for peaceful use, or shall we dangerously and foolishly let any and all 

 supplying countries of such nuclear materials make their own rules and apply 

 them as they deem desirable under unpredictable conditions of international 

 competition? 



In 1959 Senator Anderson of the Joint Committee put these ques- 

 tions to the AEC during hearings on the bilateral agreement with the 

 IAEA, but received inconclusive answers. State Department witnesses 

 addressed only the issue of bilateral agreements, and defended their 

 continued use because other countries asked for them. 116 



In 1972, with commercial nuclear power in Europe and elsewhere 

 apparently ready for substantial growth, Director General Cole's sec- 

 ond and third questions assume greater relevance. 



U.S. Participation in the IAEA 



As with other international organizations in the years following 

 "World War II, the United States has been the largest single contribu- 

 tor to the funding of the International Agency, regularly financing 

 about one-third of its administrative costs, and much higher percent- 

 ages of voluntary operational funding. It remains to be seen whether 

 the present scale of IAEA operations will be adequate for the future 

 when its international safeguards responsibilities under the Nonpro- 

 life ration Treaty become fully operational. There already have been 

 some signs of concern that the United States will be expected to finance 

 much of this increase in costs in the future, as it has many U.N. field 

 activities. 



INITIAL U.S. SUPPORT 



At the first IAEA General Conference in 1957 AEC Chairman 

 Strauss announced that the AEC was preparing a program of detailed 

 assistance and cooperation which might include offering to IAEA a 

 research reactor, an isotopes laboratory, and a comprehensive technical 

 library. In addition to formal restatement of President Eisenhower's 

 offer of 5,000 kilograms of uranium-235, Chairman Strauss announced 

 that the AEC would match offers of 20 kilograms of U-235 made by 

 the United Kingdom, 50 kilograms made by the Soviet Union, and 

 100,000 kilograms of normal uranium oxide concentrate made by 

 Portugal. Subsequently, at the first meeting of the IAEA Board of 

 Governors in January 1958, the United States summarized its prof- 

 fered support as follows : 



(1) Cost-free services for limited periods of 20 to 30 expert con- 

 sultants for use in the Agency's surveys of programs in member 

 countries. 



116 A State Department spokesman commented : 



When we get requests from countries to enter into bilateral agreements, we acknowledge 

 those requests and we attempt to accommodate them. We cannot very well spurn the 

 Approaches of other countries when they come to us seeking bilateral agreements. So that, 

 whereas we continue to enter into them when we are requested, I think it is fair to say 

 that it is not our policy to push, so to speak, bilateral agreements at the present time. 

 On the contrary, we attempt wherever possible to direct other countries to and through 

 the International Atomic Energy Agency. Ibid., p. 9. 



