Office of the Historian

101. Memorandum From Jessica Tuchman Mathews of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Aaron)1

Washington, April 21, 1978

SUBJECT

  • Your Lunch Today with Gerry Smith

[Omitted here is material unrelated to India.]

INDIA—The NRC voted yesterday 4–0 that it could not issue an export license for Tarapur and forwarded the sale to the President, who must now send it to Congress for 60 days.2 The additional delay will cause more floods of negative press in India, and will force us to halt all other diplomatic efforts in the nuclear area. Until the Tarapur shipment is resolved, everything else must wait. Meanwhile, the President must decide on how to handle the heavy water dilemma3—that also will face heavy sledding at the NRC.4 Tarapur may prove to be very unpopular in Congress.

[Omitted here is material unrelated to India.]

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 45, Nuclear Proliferation: 9/77–4/78. Secret. Aaron initialed at the top of the memorandum.↩
  2. In an April 27 message to Congress, Carter transmitted Executive Order 12055“authorizing the export of 7,638 Kgs. of low-enriched uranium to India.” (Public Papers: Carter, 1978, Book I, pp. 790–791)↩
  3. See footnote 9, Document 92. Telegram 6374 from New Delhi, April 24, which reviewed Carter’s January visit to New Delhi, observed that “the President’s offer to supply India heavy water, made during his address at Parliament, was not anticipated by the GOI. With hindsight, we believe it would have been better to have raised this possibility with the GOI in advance, so that we might have had an idea as to where they would use the heavy water, if they accepted our offer. This would have avoided the possibility of embarrassment we are now facing.” (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, D780174–0397)↩
  4. In a January 11 memorandum to Brzezinski, Mathews explained possible reactions to the offer: “While provision of heavy water does not violate the letter of the new pending legislation, it certainly violates the spirit of that law. It will provoke an angry reaction on the Hill—Ribicoff’s statement in New Delhi that it is ‛inconceivable’ that the US would supply heavy water to India. It is almost certain moreover, that this offer would run into heavy opposition in the NRC where the export license must be approved.” (Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, North/South, Thornton Country File, Box 93, India: Nuclear: 5/77–4/78)↩