§ 55. Mr. Chetwyndasked the Prime Minister whether he will now give details of the agreement reached with the United States of America on the exchange of information on the peaceful use of atomic energy.
§ The Prime MinisterThe exchange of information on the peaceful use of atomic energy between the United Kingdom and the United States is governed by the 1955 Agreement, as amended in June. 1956. This Agreement permits, but does not oblige, the parties to exchange detailed designs and applied technology of particular reactor types. Recently, as part of a broad review of operations under the Agreement, a mutually acceptable basis has been found for the transmission of such detailed information about the Calder Hall-type reactor.
The Atomic Energy Authority will make available to the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and to their contractors solely for the purpose of work for the Commission, details of the design of the Authority's Calder Hall reactors, including developments up to the 1st January, 1957. Other United States firms which hold "Access Permits" from the United States Atomic Energy Commission will be able to obtain a body of information which is adequate, in the view of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, for the evaluation of the gas-cooled, graphite-moderated power reactor. It will, of course, be open to United States firms wishing to go further than this to negotiate licensing agreements with the industrial groups in this country which have developed designs for commercial nuclear power stations from the basic Calder Hall design.