Date

Jun 11, 1963

Description

INR did not receive in time a report on additional assurances that West German Minister for Scientific Research Hans Lenz made spontaneously during a meeting at the Atomic Energy Commission. Noting that West Germany had been holding talks with the French and EURATOM about building a reprocessing plant at Karlsruhe, Lenz "implied that this proposal quite likely had resulted in reports that Germany might be undertaking a cooperative program with France in the development of their gaseous diffusion plant at Pierrelatte." To lessen U.S. concern, Lenz reaffirmed West Germany's 1955 Brussels Treaty pledge and declared that Bonn would not initiate "any action to develop the military applications of atomic energy." Moreover, Germany would avoid "any action which would strengthen the French efforts in the development of a weapons capability." Lenz insisted that "Germany had nothing to do with the Pierrelatte plant."

The West Germans eventually built the WAK pilot reprocessing plant at Karlsruhe, but it is not clear whether France played a role in that project (although the Germans would later cooperate with them and the British in the United Reprocessors cartel.).

Source

RG 59, Subject-Numeric Files 1963, box 4158, AE 11-1

Document published in following posting(s):

Preoccupations with West Germany’s Nuclear Weapons Potential Shaped Kennedy-Era Diplomacy

Feb 2, 2018