165 



research reactor program. By then a total of 26 grants had been made 

 to 12 countries which had established atomic energy programs. While 

 the initial purpose of this program had been to provide scientists with 

 working experience with nuclear reactors, some nations sought posses- 

 sion of a research reactor as a symbol of national prestige although 

 they lacked the trained scientists to operate them. The AEC was 

 faced with a touchy international issue. Rather than offend some na- 

 tions by refusing them research reactors, the AEC often installed them 

 in countries that could not use them effectively. 72 



Today there is little mention of these research reactors. For the in- 

 dustrial countries, they have served their initial purpose and have 

 been bypassed by more modern reactors for experimentation and the 

 training of nuclear scientists and engineers: for the developing coun- 

 tries the reactors, while perhaps a mark of prestige, did not appre- 

 ciably accelerate the use of atomic energy. In retrospect, the research 

 reactor program raises the question of how far a highly industrialized, 

 technological nation should go in providing sophisticated equipment 

 to countries lacking the personnel or the industrial base to use it effec- 

 tively. There is also the question of the extent to which scientific and 

 technical manpower assigned to these research reactors in the develop- 

 ing nations could have been more profitably assigned to other work of 

 greater short term benefits. 



Fuel for research reactors : Initially the United States limited its 

 offer to supply nuclear fuel for research and test reactors to material 

 of 20 percent enrichment or less, which could not be readily used for 

 clandestine manufacture of nuclear weapons. By 1956, the desire of 

 the industrial nations for improved research and test reactors had 

 caused the United States to announce a major revision in policy which 

 permitted the export of uranium enriched up to 90 percent for use in 

 special testing reactors. This raised the safeguards issue. The United 

 States required the recipient nations to accept comprehensive controls 

 and safeguards. 



Two years later, in 1958, this policy was liberalized when the 

 AEC announced that highly enriched fuel could be supplied for 

 research as well as test reactors. The following year, in 1959, the 

 AEC announced its intention to lease such materials to foreign 

 countries either through the International Agency or through bilat- 

 eral agreements. 



THE POWER REACTOR PROGRAM 



If the United States wished to demonstrate the use of U.S. nuclear 

 power technology in Europe, it had to attract the interest of European 

 utilities. The "power agreements" were the means to this end. In his 

 June 11, 1955 announcement, President Eisenhower said : 73 



72 The USAEC commented on this as follows : 



During the recent hearings on our agreements for cooperation, we discussed the matter 

 of follow-up on the research reactor grants which had been made to developing countries. 

 Information on these grant reactors is received from a variety of sources such as reports 

 by our AEC scientific representatives, reports by IAEA technical teams and consultants, 

 and reports by United States scientists. From these reports we are able to obtain an 

 idea of the extent to which these reactors arc being utilized. In general, we have con- 

 cluded that these reactors are making a contribution to the scientific program of the 

 country but they are also capable of being used to a greater degree. Cf. U.S. Congress, 

 Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Hearings, International Agreements for Cooperation, 

 88th Cong., 1st Sess.. 1964, p. 127. 



73 U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Eighteenth Semiannual Report of the Atomic 

 Energy Commission, January-June 1955, op. cit., p. 13. 



