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Proliferation, Plutonium, and Power: The Carter Administration and Japan’s Search for a Plutonium Economy

Japan and the United States faced a serious rift in relations in the late 1970s over the future of civilian nuclear power. Japan hoped that the reprocessing of spent reactor fuel into plutonium would provide an abundant, domestically produced, and economical power source. The United States, especially under the Carter administration, saw an increase in the global stockpile of plutonium as a major proliferation threat. Japan had previously accommodated itself to secondary global status by adhering to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) largely due to the promise of unfettered access to the peaceful applications of nuclear technology. America's efforts on plutonium ran counter to these interests and provoked a sharp reaction. Japan’s diplomats and leaders used bilateral and multi-lateral means to advance its nuclear power interests and managed to achieve a great deal of success. At stake, though, was more than fuel, as issues of status, prestige, and hierarchy loomed large in these efforts.

Date & Time

Thursday
Apr. 25, 2019
10:00am – 11:00am ET

Location

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
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Overview

Japan and the United States faced a serious rift in relations in the late 1970s over the future of civilian nuclear power. Japan hoped that the reprocessing of spent reactor fuel into plutonium would provide an abundant, domestically produced, and economical power source. The United States, especially under the Carter administration, saw an increase in the global stockpile of plutonium as a major proliferation threat. Japan had previously accommodated itself to secondary global status by adhering to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) largely due to the promise of unfettered access to the peaceful applications of nuclear technology. America's efforts on plutonium ran counter to these interests and provoked a sharp reaction. Japan’s diplomats and leaders used bilateral and multi-lateral means to advance its nuclear power interests and managed to achieve a great deal of success. At stake, though, was more than fuel, as issues of status, prestige, and hierarchy loomed large in these efforts.

Fintan Hoey, PhD is a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center and an Associate Professor of History at Franklin University Switzerland. He is the author of Satō, America, and the Cold War: US-Japanese Relations, 1964-1972 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and is currently working on a SNF-funded project on Japan’s nuclear power policy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

Speaker

Fintan Hoey

Public Policy Scholar;
Associate Professor of History, Franklin University, Switzerland

Fintan Hoey is an Associate Professor of History at Franklin University Switzerland and the author of Satō America and the Cold War: U.S.-Japanese Relations, 1964-72 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). In 2019 he was a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Hosted By

History and Public Policy Program

The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs.  Read more

Nuclear Proliferation International History Project

The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project is a global network of individuals and institutions engaged in the study of international nuclear history through archival documents, oral history interviews, and other empirical sources. At the Wilson Center, it is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more

Cold War International History Project

The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more

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