VII. Creating A Regional Nuclear Organization : The European 

 Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) 



Of the international organizations arising out of the discovery of 

 nuclear fission, the most ambitious, but perhaps the most disappoint- 

 ing, has been the multinational, regional organization known as 

 Euratom. Established in 1958, the purpose of the European Atomic 

 Energy Community was to create conditions necessary for the speedy 

 establishment and growth of nuclear power within the European Eco- 

 nomic Community, whose members then included Belgium, France, 

 the German Federal Republic, Italy, Luxembourg and the Nether- 

 lands. The goal of Euratom was also expected to further the eco- 

 nomic integration of Europe, which was a long standing objective of 

 U.S. diplomacy. The support and collaboration of the United States 

 with Euratom has been directly instrumental in demonstrating U.S. 

 nuclear power technology in Europe, and, for a while, provided U.S. 

 diplomacy with special leverage in relations with Euratom. 



This section outlines the origins of Euratom, its functions and 

 activities, and the disappointments of its research and development 

 program. The nature and scale of U.S. support are mentioned and 

 show that U.S. participation in Euratom has been greater than U.S. 

 participation in the International Atomic Energy Agency or the 

 Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD. The joint U.S.-Euratom re- 

 search and reactor programs are described in section VIII. 



Origins of Euratom, 



The impetus for European economic and military integration that 

 followed World War II, 172 and problems with oil supplies were con- 

 tributing factors to the idea of a European atomic energy community. 

 There was the three-year suspension of Iranian oil production fol- 

 lowing nationalization in 1951 and the closing of the Suez Canal in 

 1956-57. 173 The initial impetus for Euratom appeared in the mid 1950's 

 when statesmen took note of the expectations of nuclear scientists 

 and engineers that economically competitive nuclear power was close 

 at hand. In June 1955 the foreign ministers of the six members of 

 the European Coal and Steel Community met at Messina, Italy and 

 decided that commercial nuclear power could provide a desired 

 additional spur for European integration. The ministers had in mind 

 a vertical integration of a new European nuclear industry which prom- 

 ised quick returns to the participating nations, with negligible in- 

 terference with established commercial interests. W T ith the European 



172 Cf . section III. 



173 Oil supply interruptions were to occur again with the closing of the Suez Canal in 

 1967. the Libyan embargo and the Tapline rupture and cutoff in 1970. The interruptions 

 of the 1950's took place at a time when the United States was a relatively modest oil 

 importer and still possessed sufficient excess producing capacity to contribute a portion 

 of the oil to make up the interrupted supply of other major Western oil consuming 

 countries. However, of recent years the United States has become a substantial importer 

 of oil and it appears unlikely that the United States could come to the rescue for future 

 interruptions of European oil supplies. 



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