Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E–14, Part 2, Documents on Arms Control and Nonproliferation, 1973–1976

39. Memorandum NSC–U/DM–122 From the Chairman of the National Security Council Under Secretaries Committee (Rush) to President Nixon¹

Washington, April 5, 1974.

SUBJECT

• Action Program Concerning Security and Related Aspects of Growth and Dissemination of Nuclear Power Industries (NSDM 235)

In accordance with NSDM 235, the Under Secretaries Committee has prepared the attached action program concerning steps the U.S. might take with other nations, in particular supplier nations, designed to further enhance our security, nonproliferation and other objectives in light of the increased availability from growing nuclear power industries of materials usable in nuclear weapons.

In preparing this program, the Committee focused on the two types of nuclear weapons materials expected to be available in large quantities in the coming years (highly enriched uranium and particularly plutonium) and on the specialized technology and equipment needed to produce and separate these materials. The details of the assessment and the conclusions reached by the Committee are set forth in the attached executive summary of the interagency report.

The Under Secretaries Committee recommends that you approve the proposed action program, comprising consultations with other countries, particularly present and prospective suppliers (e.g., Germany, France, Canada, the UK, Japan and the USSR), aimed at achieving agreement or understandings in the following areas:

(1) Establishment of agreed international guidelines, preferably based on U.S. practice, to ensure the physical security of fissionable materials usable in nuclear weapons, whether internationally transferred or indigenously produced. (A prompt U.S. study on the possibility of developing an international convention on minimum desirable physical security standards, using the new U.S. standards as a preferred point of departure, should be undertaken, simultaneously with preliminary bilateral discussions regarding these issues.)

(2) Establishment of common principles and precautions among potential suppliers of sensitive enrichment technology or equipment.

(3) Agreement that a potential recipient nation’s adherence to the Non-Proliferation Treaty shall be given due weight in decisions to supply nuclear materials usable in weapons, or enrichment or reprocessing technologies and equipment.

(4) Encouragement, where appropriate, of multinational enrichment, fuel fabrication and reprocessing facilities.

(5) Consideration of denying materials and technology, or limiting the accumulation of plutonium, in situations where conflict, seizure or political instability could present special hazards.

(6) Encouragement of the adoption by other governments of export controls (comparable to those implemented by the USAEC) governing international activities of their citizens in the fields of unclassified nuclear technology transfer and assistance related to the production of special fissionable materials.

In recommending that you approve the proposed consultations with other countries, the Committee recognizes that some other supplier nations will probably be reluctant to adopt all of the measures the U.S. considers adequate. The timing and content of the consultations will therefore need to be carefully developed, and the Committee will report significant developments to you.

Kenneth Rush
Chairman

1. Summary: Rush submitted an action program prepared by the National Security Council Under Secretaries Committee on steps the United States might take in cooperation with other nations to enhance security and nonproliferation objectives. He recommended that Nixon approve the action program.

   Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, NSC Program Analysis Staff Files, Convenience Files, Box 32, Security Aspects of Growth and Dissemination of Nuclear Power Industries. Secret. According to an April 5 covering memorandum from Grove, copies were sent to Clements, Kissinger, Colby, Moorer, Ray, and Iklé. Attachment 1, a March 25 executive summary of the action plan, is attached but not published. Attachment 2, the action program, is not attached, but a version is Document 31. NSDM 235 is Document 18.