Date

Jun 9, 1982

Description

In a long message to U.S. embassies disclosing the administration’s new approach to reprocessing and plutonium use, the State Department included the texts of two “non-papers” for delivery to the foreign ministries of Japan, the European Community governments, and the European Commission itself. The purpose was to offer them a “more realistic, predictable, and secure basis upon which to plan those aspects of their nuclear power programs which involve the reprocessing of U.S.-supplied material and the subsequent use of the plutonium produced from such material.” The new approach would be “limited to those cooperating partners which have advanced nuclear programs and which possess outstanding nonproliferation credentials and where such activities do not constitute a proliferation risk, i.e., EURATOM and Japan.” With respect to advance consent arrangements for Japan, Washington proposed an “amended agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation with a lifetime of up to 30 years.”

Document published in following posting(s):

U.S.-Japan Negotiations over Reprocessing and Plutonium Use: Opening Moves, 1981-1982

Feb 12, 2019

State Department telegram 158552 to U.S. Embassy Vienna, re-transmitting telegram sent 9 June 1982 to U.S. Embassy in Japan, et al., “New U.S. Approach to the Reprocessing of U.S.-Origin Nuclear Material and the Use of Plutonium,” 16 June 1982, Secret