Date

Feb 19, 1960

Description

Algie A. Wells developed Marshall's themes in a longer memorandum to the Department of State. Citing a recent study by the General Electric Co., Wells suggested that it was a matter of time before it was possible to produce U-235 with gas centrifuges at a "cost roughly equivalent to our published prices" of enriched uranium produced with gaseous diffusion technology. Already the West Germans were "if anything, enjoying a slight lead" over the United States, but 20-30 other countries had the skills needed to develop the technology. The proliferation risk posed by the gas centrifuge compared to the "plutonium reactor route" was a "slightly more attractive" method of producing fissile materials. Yet, the Dutch and the German programs were proceeding on an unclassified basis so "any classification action the Commission might take could be vitiated if the German activities were to proceed on an unclassified basis."

To "mitigate to some extent" the risk of nuclear proliferation, Wells proposed that the United States negotiate agreements with the Dutch and the Germans to classify and safeguard gas centrifuge technology. Cooperative research could be helpful by increasing the speed of U.S. progress but would also "enhance control" by the U.S. of the technology. With the complex diplomatic issues raised by the gas centrifuge, Wells asked the State Department to contribute its thinking.

Source

Appendix D to Document 6 (below)

Document published in following posting(s):

Early Atomic Energy Commission Studies Show Concern over Gas Centrifuge Proliferation Risk

Jun 23, 2012

A.A. Wells, Director, Division of International Affairs, Atomic Energy Commission, to Philip J. Farley, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Disarmament and Atomic Energy, "Control of and Cooperation in Gas Centrifuge Research and Development Program," 19 February 1960, Secret