Atomic Energy files, lot 57 D 668, “IAEA Policies”
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Consultant to the Secretary of State for Atomic Energy Affairs (Smith)1
- Subject:
- AEC briefing of Mr. Cole on Planning for the Implementation of the President’s Pool Proposal
- Participants:
- Sterling Cole, Chairman, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy
- John Hall, Atomic Energy Commission
- Ned Trapnell, Atomic Energy Commission
- Walter Hamilton, JCAE Staff
- Wayne Brobeck, JCAE Staff
- Gerard C. Smith, S/AE, Department of State
Mr. Hall had asked Mr. Smith to go along with him when he briefed Mr. Cole on planning for the implementation of the President’s pool proposal. Mr. Hall had originally asked if Mr. Smith was going to brief Mr. Cole. Mr. Smith advised him that he thought the Joint Committee should be briefed by the Atomic Energy Commission.
Mr. Hall outlined the present planning to set up an international agency with the other nations principally involved in atomic energy matters: to set up a reactor training school, perhaps at Brookhaven; to declassify a certain amount of reactor information; and to renew power reactor negotiations with the Belgians.
Mr. Smith pointed out to Mr. Cole that it was not intended at this time that the international agency would hold any fissionable material but that it would act, at least in the early stages, primarily [Page 1505] as an information exchange mechanism. However, we hope that its charter would be broad enough to permit it to evolve into an operating agency and perhaps in time into an international control mechanism.
Mr. Cole was interested in the relationship of this agency to the United Nations and urged that it have only a tenuous relationship. Mr. Smith pointed out that this question of relationship to the UN was under study now. Mr. Cole suggested that the problems of Congressional ratification of United States participation in any international agency would be easiest if done under section 124 of the Atomic Energy Act since Congress, by passing this provision, had shown a preference for this procedure. Mr. Cole stated that the reason section 124 had been put in was so that the Congress would know in advance who the members of the international agency would be. He felt that the United States should also be able to control who subsequently joined the international agency. Mr. Smith pointed out the difficulties that such a veto power would raise and pointed out that a power to withdraw from the agency might be a sufficient protection. Mr. Cole stated that he was glad that we were getting on with planning for the international agency and said that he thought Congressional ratification would not be very time consuming.
- Of the participants listed below, Edward R. Trapnell was Special Assistant to the General Manager, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.↩