228 



(4) That the various service industries, such as fuel production 

 and fabrication, scrap recycle, irradiated fuel reprocessing, etc., 

 be developed as economic operations. 

 The AEC recognized that special incentives would be needed to at- 

 tract interest and participation of European utilities because nuclear 

 power and its economics were not then well enough established to war- 

 rant the requisite capital investment by a traditionally conservative 

 electric it v industry. The Commission informed the Joint Committee 

 that: 225 " 6 



Traditionally conservative and bound by rate ceilings, tbe utilities are not 

 prepared to take excessive risks or to invest large amounts of capital in plants 

 in which the costs of energy produced may well be above that of conventional 

 stations. 



The fact that there is not already under way a program which would accom- 

 plish the objectives of the joint program speaks for itself. Discussions with 

 Euratom and European utility personnel indicate that the estimated high cost 

 of nuclear power from even proven type reactors and particularly the uncertain 

 ties of these costs could preclude a program under which 1 million EKW of 

 American type reactors would be installed by 1963, unless additional incentives 

 are provided. 



The scale of the joint program, said the Commission, had to be large 

 enough that : 227 



(1) The data produced would come from a sufficiently large 

 number of power reactors to be useful ; 



(2) A significant number of European industries would have 

 an opportunity to participate in construction ; and 



(3) A sufficiently large number of operating utilities would be 

 brought into the program to assure that the management of this 

 industry would be ready to accept nuclear energy and enter the 

 longer range nuclear program with enthusiasm. 



Initiation of the Joint Programs 



Within three months after creation of Euratom in 1058, a joint 

 U.S.-Euratom working party was at work. By June 23, 1958. negotia- 

 tions and arrangements were far enough along for President Eisen- 

 hower to request urgent approval of Congress for arrangements be- 

 tween the United States and Euratom, and to seek legislation author- 

 izing AEC participation with Euratom in the joint programs of 

 demonstration and development and research. The joint programs 

 anticipated the building within the Common Market nations of six 

 nuclear power plants by 1965 with a total electrical output of 1,000 

 megawatts. 228 



European sources were expected to finance the capital, then esti- 

 mated at about $350 million, and operating costs, while the United 

 States would finance research and development and other incentives. 



President Eisenhower saw dual benefits for the United States. 

 Nuclear power in Europe would provide both a needed new source of 

 energy for those nations and also an impetus toward European unity. 

 As for European unity, he said : *" 



tat Loc. fit. 



22,1 1 million EKW (electric kilowatts) Is l.ooo megawatts of elc^ti-lcnl capacity. 



a* Ibid., p. 93. 



■w By way of comparison, some single nuclear power plants now being built in the United 

 Stntiv nave electrical outputs ereater than 1,000 MW. 



331 U.S.. Conprcss, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Hearings, Proposed Euratom 

 Agreements, op. clt., p. 10. 



