t H 11 THE COUNSELOR DEPARTMENT OF STATE VERY URGEN SECRET EYES ONLY February 13 976 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY FROM Helmut Sonnenfeldt You have for action a memo from Joe Sisco proposing that we make an approach to the French the Germans and the Pakistanis on the following -- Sale of a reprocessing plant by France to Pakistan Sale of a heavy water plant by the FRG to Pakistan It is urgent that you act on Sisco's memo because Bhutto visits Bonn next week and the Germans need to know if we have any reservations on the heavy water deal The French-IAEA-Pakistani Trilateral Safeguards Agreement will go before the IAEA Board of Governors February 23 We must let the French know if we have any reservations I believe it is inevitable that we must make representations to all three governments expressing our misgivings about these deals otherwise you will be pilloried in Congress and the press for standing by while Pakistan requires the wherewithal to build nuclear weapons Someone in the bureaucracy has leaked to the Germans the fact that you have an action memo on this issue Von Staden cited this to me I have raised hell with the bureaucracy over the leak Now Bonn has instructed the Emba sv to reauest that we withdraw om obiections to the sale This is a transparent maneuver as we have yet to raise any obiections though our people told the Germans at the workina level we may have concerns UnlesE we do officially register our concerns Bonn will probably tell the world that the SECRET EYES ONLY D · Authority tJlJ D9 9155_ ' - 2 U S had no objections and we will have a repeat of the FRG-Brazil furor of last year The dilemma in this is that Schmidt will no doubt hit the roof and argue that the heavy water facility is fully safeguarded as it will be His sensitivities will be further heightened by the approaching elections In terms of our situation here however I see no alternative to our expressing our reservations to the FRG the French and the Paks SECRET EYES ONLY UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS WASHINGTON To The Secretary From P - Joseph The attached memo describes a problem we have similar to the Korean situation with a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant the French propose to build in Pakistan _If ou have no objection we plan to talk with the Frenc and PaRis€anis to urge that they reconsider the project We are also concerned about a proposed German heavy water plant and want to query both parties about the economic justification for it without at this time raising direct objections The approach to the French and Germans would be in the context of our obligation under the London Supplier Guidelines to consult on sensitive export questions we would give them sufficient time to object before we went to the Pakistanis We doubt that the Pakistanis will buy our arguments but we think they should be put on notice that given the way Congressional and public attitudes are developing here they could conceivably jeopardize our wnole bilateral relationship if they are seen as trying to match the Indian explosion There is some urgency in getting this done because the French Pakistanis and the IAEA Secretariat are apparently preparing to present a draft safeguards agreement for this plant to the IAEA Board of Governors meeting on February 25 We would like to get our concerns on the record before then We also want to make our demarche to the Pakistanis in advance of your dinner meeting with Bhutto in New York February 26 CONFIDENTIAL NODIS XGDS3 IJO DBTet -r101v tlJ 1 E MA-fll t£ DECLASSIFIED Authority Nij P9 f 155 ✓ DEPARTMENT OF STATE 7602250 ACTION SECRET NODIS February 3 1976 To P - Mr Sisco From NEA - Alfred L Atherton J Demarche to Pakistan on Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing France and Pakistan are close to agreement on construction of a pilot but apparently quite large nuclear fuel reprocessing facility in Pakistan Our concern with this project is heightened by Pakistan's parallel negotiations with the FRG to acquire a small heavy water facility which could provide an additional vital element in any future Pakistani weapons program Even though both projects are well advanced we recommend that you call in Pakistani Ambassador Yaqub to express USG concern and specifically as regards the· reprocessing facility to urge the GOP to postpone or cancel the project Discussion Analysis Attached at Tab 1 is an INR study of Pakistan's nuclear development program including background information or1 Pakistan• s bilateral negut iations with France and the FRG The key judgment of this paper is that there is unambiguous evidence that following India's 1974 nuclear explosion Prime Minister Bhutto initiated a program intended to lead to development of a nuclear explosive capability Pakistan of course is far behind India in every respect and has only one power reactor a small CANDU facility the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant known as KANUPP and one AID-provided research reactor which is too small to be significant in any potential weapons program A narrowly focused effort by Pakistan to acquire an explosives capability however could conceivably bring rather SECRET HODIS - XGDS 3 r° DECLASSIFIED Authority I t l1JD'3 ' 1 j