Date

Nov 5, 1958

Description

Representatives of the U.S., the U.K., South Africa, Australia, and Canada, the five Western suppliers of nuclear technology and materials, met in Ottawa (hence the moniker "Ottawa Group") to discuss the requirements of an effective IAEA safeguards system. One of the U.S. delegates, J. Robert Schaetzel, emphasized the importance of not wasting a "precious moment" to develop a safeguards system, which he saw "as part of the effort to bring modern implements of war under some kind of control."

Because of divisions within the AEC over the degree of inspection required, the United States had not prepared a position paper. During the discussion, the Canadians explained the rationale of their audit/spot inspection proposal: their proposal was "analogous to having available policemen in sufficient number to deter the criminal but not to have one policeman assigned to each potential criminal."

The delegations wanted to assist Roger Marshall Smith, the chief of the IAEA safeguards branch, but they agreed that it had to be done in "such a way that neither he nor his staff were compromised." One tactic that was discussed was for London and Washington "to favor a rather rigorous system while the other three countries advocate a system which would in fact be acceptable to all five countries." That would enable the U.S. and the U.K. to "appear to compromise and thus increase the chances of gaining general acceptance for a reasonable system."

Source

SAE, box 302, 12H P.U.S. File: 18. Safeguards 1958 [Part 1 of 3]

Document published in following posting(s):

60th Anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency

Oct 26, 2017