155 



The Congress declared that development, use, and control of atomic 

 energy should be so directed as to "promote world peace, improve the 

 general welfare, increase the standard of living, and strengthen free 

 competition in private enterprise." To attain this goal, the Act speci- 

 fied a program to : 



. . . promote the common defense and security and to make available to co- 

 operating nations the benefits of peaceful applications of atomic energy as widely 

 as expanding technology and considerations of the common defense and security 

 will permit. 



In support of this program, the Act authorized the AEC to cooperate 

 with any nation by distributing nuclear fuel and source materials, and 

 certain artificial radioisotopes. 48 International nuclear cooperation 

 would be effected through bilateral agreements for cooperation with 

 individual nations or with a regional defense organization. These 

 agreements departed from conventional practice. Instead of being 

 treaties, they were agreements negotiated by the AEC which were 

 simpler to negotiate and did not require the advice and consent of the 

 Senate for their ratification. This arrangement was judged appropriate 

 because of the many foreign nations that were expected to wish to 

 benefit from U.S. nuclear science and technology. 



Congress did place some limitations upon the U.S. Atomic Energy 

 Commission and the State Department in negotiating such agreements. 

 Section 123 of the Act required that each such agreement include: 



(1) The terms, conditions, duration, nature, and scope of the 

 cooperation; 



(2) A guaranty by the cooperating party that security safe- 

 guards and standards agreed upon would be maintained ; 



(3) A guaranty by the cooperating party that any material to 

 be transferred pursuant to an agreement would not be used for 

 atomic weapons, or for research or development for weapons, or 

 for any other military purposes ; and 



(4) A guaranty by the cooperating party that any material 

 and any restricted data to be transferred would not be transferred 

 to unauthorized persons or beyond the jurisdiction of the cooperat- 

 ing party except as specified in the agreement. 



Section 123 further required the President to approve each agree- 

 ment for cooperation and to make a written determination that the 

 proposed agreement would promote rather than constitute an unrea- 

 sonable risk of the common defense and security. Finally, Congress 

 preserved for itself the option to intervene by requiring that a pro- 

 posed agreement for cooperation together with the Presidential ap- 

 proval and determination must lie before the Joint Committee for 30 

 days while Congress is in session. 



The expanded legislative charter for AEC to foster use of nuclear 

 power abroad prohibited transfer of information on design and fabri- 

 cation of atomic weapons and limited the exchange of restricted data 

 for peaceful uses to six categories. 40 



Since 1954. this framework of legislative policy, program, and au- 

 thorization has been the basis for U.S. cooperation with European 



<q Section 54 authorized forelcn distribution of special nuclear materials ; section 64 distri- 

 bution of source materials ; and section 82 distribution of byproduct materials. 



19 The six categories included in Section 144(a) of the Act are (1) Refining, purification, 

 and subsequent treatment, of source material: (2) Reactor development: (3) Production of 

 special nuclear material: (4) Health and safety; (5) Industrial and other applications of 

 atomic energy for peaceful purposes; and (6) Research and development relating to the 

 foregoing. 



