252 



TABLE V.-AEC CONTRACTS FOR TOLL ENRICHMENT WITH FOREIGN CUSTOMERS, NOVEMBER 1970 



Value of 



Number of contracts 



Customer contracts (millions) 



Euratom - If $124.3 



Japan - — 8 335.3 



Switzerland. - 2 83.3 



Sweden 2 139.1 



Spain , - 1 •» 



Total - 31 688.4 



Source: U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, press release N-206, Nov. 24, 1970. 



FINANCING NUCLEAR FUEL INVENTORIES 



Throughout the later 1950s, one question for U.S. foreign nuclear 

 policy was what financial assistance, if any, should be given to foreign 

 countries purchasing U.S. nuclear fuel materials. Shouldthe^ U.S. sell 

 them, lease them, or loan money to buy them? The final decision was 

 in favor of direct sale for the following reasons : 290 



(1) The cost of the fuel inventory was considered part of the 

 capital cost of the facility and hence one that should be borne 

 by the owner of the facility. 



(2) The material was expensive and the total value of the fuel 

 inventory in the aggregate could reach billions of dollars when 

 atomic power came into general use ; and 



(3) It would be unwise for the Commission to establish a prece- 

 dent that might lead to its financing very large sums of money 

 overseas (which more appropriately was a banking function). 



THE DEFERRED PAYMENT PLAN 



AEC policy of sale rather than lease had its drawbacks, partic- 

 ularly for cooperation with Eurotom. The initial heavy capital outlay 

 for enriched fuel could be an obstacle in financing nuclear power 

 projects of interest to the United States. To reduce this obstacle, the 

 AEC announced on February 2, 1959, that it would supply enriched 

 uranium fuel on a deferred payment basis to countries and interna- 

 tional organizations that had bilateral agreements of cooperation with 

 the United States. 



Under this arrangement, a foreign reactor operator could use the 

 fuel for ten years before beginning payments on principal, which 

 would be spaced over the following 10 years. Interest on the unpaid 

 balance was the same as the use charge for such materials in effect for 

 the domestic nuclear industry. Fuel consumed was to be paid for as 

 consumed. Tl>e effect of this policy was to defer repayment of a major 

 capital cost until the productive period after a nuclear power plant 

 had been built and brought into operation. 



To be eligible for deferred payment, the power reactors had to- be 

 scheduled for operation before June 30, 1964, and had to use U.S. 

 designs and a substantial portion of U.S. components. 



280 U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Background Material for the 

 Review of the International Atomic Policies and Programs of the United States, 86th 

 Cong., 2d Sess., 1960, vol. 2, p. 392. (Joint Committee print.) 



