Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E-15, Part 2, Documents on Western Europe, 1973–1976, Second, Revised Edition

288. National Security Decision Memorandum 298¹

Washington, June 14, 1975.

TO

• The Secretary of Defense
• The Deputy Secretary of State
• The Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
• The Administrator, Energy Research and Development Administration

SUBJECT

• FRG Reactor Sale to the USSR

The President has reviewed the paper prepared by the NSC Verification Panel Working Group on the above subject, and has noted the views of the addressees. He has decided that:

—The U.S. is prepared to grant an exemption for the FRG reactor sale now pending before COCOM if the USSR will supply the uranium for the fuel and give a peaceful purposes assurance for the reactor and its produced plutonium.

—IAEA safeguards should be required in future COCOM cases for weapon states only where the nuclear export concerned would reasonably be expected to create a significant risk of diversion of fissionable materials to non-peaceful uses.

The President has also directed that the working group prepare a study of the prospects and implications of U.S. nuclear trade with Communist countries, with a view to reconciling our national and COCOM positions.

Henry A. Kissinger

1. Summary: The President directed that a COCOM exemption be granted to allow the sale of a FRG nuclear reactor to the USSR, provided certain safeguard measures were met.

   Source: Ford Library, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box 60, NSDM 298—FRG Reactor Sale to the USSR. Secret. Copy sent to the DCI.