Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-26

ton In this country and abroad.
Half the uranium would be made
available. over period Of years. for
domestic use, the other half for
foreign use, the President disclosed.
The Soviet bloc would be barred
from participation.
The U-235 would not be easily
convertible to weapons. but MIR. Eli
senhower cautioned that prudent
safeguards" would be necessary to
prevent diversion Of the materials
to nonpeaceful purposes"
There Is still the risk, of course,
that other countries could either
divert the uranium to military APP
plications or develop the know
how to process uranium of its own
into weapons. But the risk seems
now to be an inevitable effect of
the nuclear age. one which the
world must learn to live with rather
than try to prevent.
Russion Campaign
The Russians acted as perfect
foils for Mr.. Eisenhower's an
nouncement by launching q big
new campaign Of their own to take.
over world leadership In the peace
full development Of the atom. They
also berated America for stressing
the military atom. So far as is
known. of course, the Soviet Union
has not contributed one ounce of
uranium for any other countrys
development.
internationally, last weeks Eli
senhower move had these effects
in the cold war:
. Prestige. It showed that the
United States is making formid-
able effort to hasten the dawn OF
the atomic-power age.
. Good will. It showed that the
United States Is more than gener-
Gus in sharing its uranium with
the less fortunate.
Economic improvement. Lease or
sale Of the uranium to power-hun-
cry states will tend. over the long
maui, to improve their economies,
increase their participation In
world trade, and raise world living
standards.
. United Nations. The Interna-
tional Atomic Energy Agency, set
up by the United Nations last year,
appeared from the Townsville an
nouncement to have been. short
circuited by the American an
nouncement. It is quite likely. how
ever. that this was another case
Of Decentralization inherent In the
Washington-T h m asvilIe axis.
There were indications late last
week that the United States (at
least its working level offlcials) had
no intention Of downgrading the
importance Of LAEA.
President Eisenhower's original
atoms for-peace plan Of December,
1858. had envisaged the United
Nations as an atomic banker, to
dispense A-power materials on its
own initiative. Contributing pow
ers, like the United States or the
Soviet Union If 1t participated,
were to attach no strings to their
uranium consignments. But when
the Soviet Union declined to 60
along with the bank idea, the
United States had second thoughts
and decided to keep control Of its
own uranium, too.
There was some hope that the
United States was changing its
mind when the IAEA was set I'D by
the United Nations last year. Or
ganizational sessions, to write an
IAEA statute, stat here tomorrow
among representatives Of IL draft
ing nations.
But the unilateral move last week
was taken by some to mean that
the United States had finally con-
cluded it could not subject its
uranium to the danger Of Soviet
control or interference. The IAEA
now may become merely q clearing
house, outsiders fear. Actually, it
is more likely that future develop
ments will show the United States
stands ready to contribute even
more uranium to IAEA, for 1t to
dispense as it wishes, If the Soviet
Union also participates.
. Regional aspects. Six nations
Of Europe France, West Germany,
Italy, Belgium, Holland and Lux
embourg) are now setting up a
cooperative atomic power agency,
called Euratom, and the United
States has given the project its
cordial blessing. With virtually
unlimited supply of uranium now
available. the conversion to atomic
power-and European unification
should be tremendously stimu-
lated. The Soviet Union will prob
ably be hard pressed to keep its
East European satellites up to the
pace. Not only Europe, of course,
will be taking advantage of the
new availability of uranium. Asian
powers like the Philippines, Japan,
India and Ceylon will soon be in
the field.
. Ore availability. It is likely that
as more nations get into the atomic
power field. a scramble for uranium
ore will develop.
Q Weapons. Atoms for peace will
inevitably equip many other nations
with atomic know-how for war. In
as little as a decade, the world is
not likely to have only three nu-
clear-weapons powers (America,
Britain and the Soviet Uniofi), but
as many as 10 or H. Whether this
plentitude Of atomic weapons win
lead to world anarchy or world
stability Is problem very much on
the minds Of our policymakers-
and the Soviet Union's-today.
The Domestic Side
Domestically there was q differ
ence Of opinion on how the new
program would work out. The