169 



kilograms were allocated for foreign bilateral partners of the United 

 States. The President also committed the AEC to recommend alloca- 

 tion of additional supplies as further projects undertaken by the 

 domestic nuclear industry and by other nations might require. 78 AEC 

 Chairman Strauss described this action as the most important step 

 toward peaceful use of atomic energy since revision of the Atomic 

 Energy Act in 1954. Concurrently, he noted that the action affirmed 

 the United States intention to make fuel available for the expected 

 working lifetime of bilateral power reactor projects. 79 



A year later, in July 1957, the President approved an additional 

 allocation of uranium-235 for domestic and foreign use, bringing the 

 total to 100,000 kilograms. Of this, 50,000 kilograms were allocated for 

 foreign use. Based on then current prices, the nuclear fuel allocated 

 for foreign use was worth about $850 million. The AEC has been care- 

 ful to emphasize that the supplying of this nuclear material was not a 

 gift and that payment would be required. 



ESTABLISHING PRICES FOR NUCLEAR FUEL MATERIALS 



If the commercial nuclear power industry in Europe was to use U.S. 

 nuclear fuel and U.S. nuclear power technology, the European users 

 had to know what they would have to pay for enriched uranium. The 

 first U.S. announcement of prices came at the opening of the first 

 international conference on atomic energy in Geneva on August 8, 

 1955. There the AEC announced a price for enriched uranium and 

 also prices for natural uranium and for heavy water. 80 



The Geneva announcement, however, was indefinite on many details. 

 To minimize these uncertainties, the President announced on Novem- 

 ber 18, 1956, detailed terms and conditions for U.S. supply of nuclear 

 fuel materials. In a subsequent amplification of the President's 

 announcement, AEC Chairman Strauss said that this measure to 

 accelerate foreign use of nuclear power under Atoms for Peace 

 included : 81 



(1) Establishment of a schedule of charges for uranium-235 

 which were to be the same as those for the domestic nuclear 

 industry. 



(2) Adoption of a policy of assurances to bilateral partners of 

 the United States that the Commission was prepared to furnish 

 uranium-235 in quantities based on estimated fuel requirements 

 for specific nuclear power plants for periods longer than 10 years. 



(3) Establishment of prices that the Commission would pay 

 for plutonium and uranium 233 produced in foreign nuclear power 

 reactors which used United States fuel. The United States would 

 use nuclear materials so acquired only for peaceful purposes. 



78 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Twentieth Semiannual Report of the Atomic Energy 

 Commission (Washington, D.C : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971), p. ix. 

 78 Loc. clt. 



80 The price set for uranium enriched up to 20 percent was placed at $25 per grnm of 

 uranium-235 contained ; natural uranium metal was priced at' $40 a kilogram ; and heavy 

 water at $28 a pound. Cf. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Major Activities in Atomic 

 Energy Programs, J uly-Decemher 1955 (Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing 

 Office, 1056). p. 80. 



Heavy water at the time was a key material for one kind of nuclear power re.ictor 

 which offered improved prospects for using natural uranium for fuel. This technology 

 Is currently being developed and used by the Canadian nuclear power Industry. 



81 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Radiation Safety and Major Activities in Atomic 

 Energy Programs, July-December 1956 (Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing 

 Office, 1057), p. 339. 



