193 



fied ratification by the United States because of what the International 

 Agency could do to control the dangers of nuclear power. He said: 141 



. . . people are becoming more aware of some of the dangers inherent in this 

 progress. When power is produced by nuclear energy . . . such production also 

 creates waste products which could imperil health and safety. Today, the need 

 is even more imperative for protection against the inevitable byproducts of the 

 atomic age. 



The Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency is designed to fill 

 this need. . . . 



Chairman Strauss was quite frank about the hazards. He testified 

 that : 142 



A byproduct of reactors is radioactive waste. This byproduct will probably 

 some day be valuable, but presently and for the foreseeable future, it presents 

 a huge disposal problem. Solution of the problem is necessary for public health 

 and safety. 



If these wastes are indiscriminately dumped at sea, they could spread around 

 the world. If they are indiscriminately buried in the earth they may migrate along 

 the plunging contours of subterranean strata with no regard whatever for the 

 political boundaries that men and nations have scratched on the earth's surface. 



The only way we can safeguard our own health and safety is by securing 

 world health and safety. And that can only be achieved by a uniform international 

 agreement on standards of health and safety applicable to atomic energy. 



The United States was ready to support the concept of voluntary 

 international safety standards. However, it was unready to accept 

 the application of such standards by an international agency to its 

 own nuclear activities. In 1959 while discussing IAEA Director 

 General Cole's ideas about the IAEA, a State Department witness, 

 Chad wick Johnson, Office of Special Assistant for Disarmament and 

 Atomic Energy, declined to take a position on this question, as indi- 

 cated in the following colloquy : 143 



Mr. Johnson. I, of course believe it is a generally good thing for the Inter- 

 national Atomic Energy Agency to establish rigid standards of health and 

 safety for possible adoption by other countries with which the agency works. 



Senator Anderson. For adoption by other countries. Why not for adoption by 

 the principal country that started it, the United States? . . . 



Mr. Johnson. Being a member of the Department of State, I believe that I 

 cannotfully answer your question on this matter of health and safety. 



The IAEA itself has not been able to move very far to establish 

 international standards for safety in design, construction and oper- 

 ation of nuclear power plants. It did convene a Panel on Safe Opera- 

 tion of Critical Assemblies and Research Reactors which prepared 

 an international safety manual and subsequently assisted in setting 

 up safety procedures for a few small research reactors. But the IAEA- 

 went no further despite the fact that the nuclear power technology 

 is potentially dangerous, and effects of accidents with nuclear power 

 plants could cross national boundaries and affect other countries. 



Shortly after the issuance of the Smyth report, Arnold Kramish 

 suggested that adoption and enforcement by members of the IAEA 

 of international safety standards promulgated and monitored by that 



141 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations and Senate Members of the 

 Jo'nt Committee on Atomic Energy, Hearings, Statute of the International Atomic Energy 

 Agency, op. eit., p. 3. 



142 Jbid.,p. 84. 



143 U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Hearings, Agreement for Coopera- 

 tion Between the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency, op. clt., 

 p. 10. 



