DECLASSIFIED Authority A 8160 Subject Non Pro1iferation Policy On tie sdra'y June 3 a meeting on non proliferation pelicy was held in the Secretary's conference room attended by Berl Bernhard Leon Billings Tony Lalge 'Gerry Smith Jerry Oplinger Mimivz Bob Gallucci Tom Pickeringfand Arnie Raphel The Secretary attended a portion of the meeting Ambassador Smith was askedwhathe saw as the specific goal of his paper on non -proliferati_on He responded that we had to determine how to continue the explOration process he is not asking for a change in policy Under the NNPA we claim a right to determine how the Europeans dispose of plutonium derived from American upplied uranium The fundamental question is how do we exercise that right with the Europeans He emphasized that he was asking for authority to explore this issue beginning next Week in Vienna not to negotiate with the Europeans Ambassador Smith emphasized he did not see any final decision being made this year but believed we had to move ahead with exploratory talks He believed the preferred option was to i move away from case by case review of plutonium transfers and move toward a generic approach on granting permission for DECLASSIFIED Authority 4 W9 specific categories of transfers Ambassador Smith added he believed that in return for this step on our part the FRG and the French would probably agree to stop the export of sensitive nuclear material without full scope safeguards He added there is a question oVer the thrust of the President's plutonium regime policy On the one hand there is a considerable and well justified sensitivity toward international traffic in plutonium On the other hand the President stated that it was not our intention to interfere in others' domestic breeder reactor programs - Mae A f Mr are saw- Tony Lake noted that there were two possi 2 A and 2 B Under 2 A we wOuld give generic approval to arrangements with the Western Europeans and the Japanese that preceded our 1977 statement on non proliferation but would not do so for any arrangements signed sincethen Under 2 B we would give the same generic approval a over the next ten yea-rs to countries which had reached a certain level of plutonium regime sophistication Without restricting it to the Western Europeans and Japanese Ambassador Smith noted that his preference was to explore option 2 with the Europeans DECLASSIFIED AuthorityNA JQ ' o'fj- 3 SECRET Ambassador Pickering noted that if we waited until next year to begin these explorations with the Europeans it would erode what we may be able to get during the talks He added that under our present case-by-case system we have concurred in all the transfer requests if we go to a generic approach we may be able to extract certain concessions from the Europeans Mr Bernhard asked how the proposed change would affect the danger spots such as Iraq Pakistan and India Mr Pickering noted that the result could be tighter controls the Europeans might well agree to more stringent safeguards in response to our accepting the generic approach Mr Billings raised the question of whether this change in policy would be seen as backing off on our opposition to the breeder reactor program Ambassador Pickering noted that this could be a perception problem in the US but he believed that our opposition to breeder commercialization at the present time was well known Mr Lake noted that it is less dangerous in terms of perception to ask for the President's informal approval for the approaches to be made than seeking the President's formal blessing He added there are two choices we do not have to make now One we do not have to decide finally whether we will SECRET SECRET 4 move toward the generic approach until we see what quids we would get from the Europeans Two even if we do move eventually toward the generic approach we need not now address the issue of whether it should be option 2 A or 2 B '------- - I I ------- Mr Bernhard and others noted at various points in the con- versation that regardless of how we packaged Gerry Smith s f talks in Europe they would be perceived as a shift in our policy p specifically as a weakening of the President's now-proliferation policy We could consequently face a major public perception problem on this issue - ---- - _------ --- The consensus of the-meeting was to recommend to the Secretary that the issue be discussed at the Friday breakfast The recommendation would be to seek the President's informal approval at the breakfast for Gerry Smith to begin exploratory talks not negotiations with the Europeans in Vienna next week The purpose of the talks will be to elicit what quid the Europeans would be willing to offer if we showed some willingness to be flexible on moving to a generic approach It was also decided that we would recommend to the Secretary that there would be no PRC meeting on this subject DEC LASSIF IED Authority A 4 5 Several papers were tasked - an item for the Friday breakfast which would give the Secretary appropriate background and talking points to discuss this issue with the President I 2 - a briefing memo for the Secretary which would explain What specific quids we might-be able to expect from the Europeans in return for our moving toward a generic approach to the plutonium regime Annadap-tation of this paper could be used for public explanation of our approach if we reach that point 3 - the effects of this shift in policy on the commercialization of the plutonium regime specifically breeder reactor programs in Europe and Japan                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu