Office of the Historian

49. Note From the Department of State to the Soviet Embassy1

Washington, July 29, 1955.

The Government of the United States has considered the memorandum of the Soviet Government dated July 18, 1955,2 and has the following comments to make:

1.
The Government of the United States is pleased to note the readiness of the Soviet Government to deposit 50 kilograms of fissionable material into an international fund under an international atomic energy agency—the deposit to be made when agreement has been reached on the creation of such an agency.
2.
The Government of the United States notes that the Soviet Government is now willing to participate in negotiations on the creation of an international atomic energy agency. As pointed out in the United States note of April 14, 1955,3 the United States and other countries principally involved have been developing a draft statute for such an international agency. A copy is attached.4 This draft is now under confidential study by the other nations principally involved. It is [Page 165] planned to submit a draft statute to all nations qualified to join such an energy when such study has been completed. The attached draft reflects current views as to the desirable nature of such an agency and covers various points made in the negotiations between the other nations principally involved since March 19, 1954.5 Comments of the Soviet Government on such draft would be welcome. It is hoped that the Soviet Union will be one of the states sponsoring such international agency.
3.
The Government of the United States notes the statement in the Soviet memorandum of July 18, 1955, that questions of the development of international cooperation in the field of peaceful utilization of atomic energy are directly dependent on the solution of the problems of reduction of armaments and the banning of atomic weapons. The Government of the United States hopes that the Soviet Government by this statement is not reverting to its earlier position that the establishment of an international atomic energy agency must be preceded by an agreement to ban the use of nuclear weapons. It is the understanding of the Government of the United States, as set out in its note of November 3, 1954,6 that the Soviet Government no longer insists on such a condition. It is believed that the peaceful uses of atomic energy should not be withheld from the peoples of the world pending solution of difficult disarmament problems.
4.
The Government of the United States notes the acceptance by the Soviet Government of the United States agenda7 (attached to the United States note of April 14, 1955) for a joint study of the problems involved in safeguarding the peaceful uses of atomic energy. In view of their special competence in this field it is suggested that experts from the United Kingdom and Canada be invited to participate in such technical meeting. Early views of the Soviet Government on this point are requested.

A preliminary meeting of experts at Geneva following the United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy is agreeable to the Government of the United States. In view of competing demands on the time of these experts, it is suggested that such preliminary meeting last no longer than five days. If additional time is required, a second meeting can be called at a mutually agreeable time and place.

  1. Source: Department of State, Atomic Energy Files: Lot 57 D 688, IAEA—Exchange of Notes. Top Secret. Drafted by Gerard Smith on July 28. On July 29, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Walworth Barbour gave two copies of the note to Soviet Chargé Sergei Striganov. A copy of the draft statute for the proposed International Atomic Energy Agency, dated July 6, was attached to each note. (Memorandum of conversation, August 1; ibid.) For text, see Department of State Bulletin, October 22, 1956, pp. 625–626.↩
  2. Ibid., pp. 624–625.↩
  3. Document 20.↩
  4. Not printed.↩
  5. Regarding the initiation of these negotiations, see Foreign Relations, 1952–1954, vol. II, Part 2, p. 1376.↩
  6. For text, see ibid., p. 1547.↩
  7. Printed as the enclosure to Document 20.↩