REGULATION OF ARMAMENTS


  sidered a "dangerous material", the United Nations plan gives
the
  agency the power to define "dangerous" materials. If we recall
fur-
  ther that the United Nations plan gives to the international control
  agency the exclusive right to own source. material, key substances',
  nuclear fuel and all facilities that-make or produce these in dangerous
  quantities, it appears that the United Nations plan would effectively
  meet the dangers from the possible development of thermonuclear
  weapons. The views of the Commission on this point are also requested.
  Mr. Pike's letter of June 26, 1950, identifies three changes in the
  technical situation that have occurred since the first use of .atomic
  weapons. In my opinion, the most significant one, from the viewpoint
  of international control, is the second; namely,- the accumulation of
  stocks of nuclear fuel by more than one country. Apart from the prob-
  lem of disposing of these stocks once the United Nations plan was
  accepted, there is the question as to how one can be ,assured that all
ac-
  cumulated stocks would, in fact, be turned over to international
  control. If -there can be no adequate assurance on this point, it may
  well be that there is no plan of control,-the United Nations or any
  other, which would prevent atomic weapons from appearing on the
  international scene without timely warning. I should appreciate the
  Commission's advice as to the combination of scientific and technical
  methods that could be used to determine whether all significant stocks
  have been turned over to the agency, and the degree of certainty
  attaching thereto.
  If the degree of certainty is very high, the first change in the tech-
  nical situation-mentioned in the -letter, namely, the production of
  atomic weapons by the Soviet Union, can be coped with. Assurance
  that no stocks of nuclear fuel would ,be in the possession of any nation
  after the establishment of -the plan could mean that atomic weapons
  could not get into national hands without warning.
  The production of atomic -weapons by the.Soviet Union raises some
  problems ,concerning the establishment of any control system. How-
ever, it should be pointed out that during the development of the
United Nations plan, it had always been kept in mind that not only
the Soviet Union, but other nations would come into possession of.
atomic weapons. In the detailed spelling out of stages of transition
from the present situation to one of international control, which
has yet to -be done, such capabilities would be taken into: account.
  The fact that hopes for a rapid development of atomic power have
so far not been fulfilled is the third major change identified in the
letter. It occurs to me that, among others, the possible development of
the electro-nuclear method of generating neutrons might, by easing the
uranium supply problem, have a bearing on the prospects for devel-


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