FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1950), VOLUME I


   1. Last Spring, Anglo-American-Belgian agreement was reached on
 a Joint Communique and Annex, setting forth the substance of the
 Uranium Agreement of 1944, and outlining the technical assistance
 the United States and the United Kingdom were prepared to give
 Belgium in keeping with Section 9a of the Agreement. Due to the
 royal question in Belgium, however, discussions were suspended on
 certain unresolved subsidiary points, including that of a suitable finan-
 cial contribution, agreement on which Mr. Van Zeeland had con-
 ditioned the release of the Joint Communique.
   2. At the end of September, Mr. Van Zeeland informed you that
 the Belgian Government was now agreeable to reaching a settlement
 of American-Belgian-British atomic relations on the basis of the Joint
 Communiqu6, which it was proposed should be released following the
 receipt of American-British reaction to:
   (a) An increase in the Congo uranium export tax of no more than
 175 francs per kilo (roughly $1.75 per lb.), the proceeds from which
 would be devoted to the support of a Belgian latomic energy program
 and such related industrial developments as were considered advisable.
   (b) Construction by the Belgian Government of a plant in the
 Congo to reduce uranium ores to a stage no further than green salts.
   3. We replied-to the Belgians that:
   (a) -We could not give a sensible opinion on the export tax in the
absence of a more detailed description of the Belgian atomic energy
program, although on the face of it, the tax seemed excessive.
   (b) Furthermore, the determination of a reasonable tax appeared
dependent upon a more detailed examination into the technical and
economic feasibility of the proposed Congo reduction plant.
  We, therefore, proposed that Belgian atomic energy liaison officers
  (provided for in the Joint Communique) be sent immediately to Lon-
don and Washington for further consultation on these points as well
as to facilitate Belgian access to CPC technical data (also provided
for in the Joint Communique) about to be declassified regarding cer-
tain American-British-Canadian research reactors.
  4. In October, Mr. Sengier of Union Miniere came to Washington
to discuss with the CDA means of speeding up an increase in Union
Miie'res uranium production. As a result of these talks, a price
increase of 50 was granted Union Miniere to offset the added cost
of working the mines at a higher but less economic pace of operations
to assure the desired increase in production. It was assumed that the
Belgian Government would be informed by Union Miniere of this
price adjustment, inasmuch as the Belgian Ambassador here stated
that Mr. Sengier had advised him of the increase.


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