Drogan M. 2014. The nuclear nation and the German question: an American reactor in West Berlin.
Cold War History. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2014.959500
When the above article was first published online, on pages 6, 7 and 8, the phrase “power bilateral” was incorrectly replaced with “bilateral agreement.” This has now been reverted to “power bilateral”.
Page 6:
Hoping to encourage the US government to sign a bilateral agreement with Germany, the companies said they would consider putting an American on the Board of Directors so as to ‘work openly and in complete cooperation with the United States Government.’ But while US representatives were happy to negotiate a standard research bilateral, they had yet to complete a power reactor bilateral with any country besides the United Kingdom, Canada and Belgium, and were not willing to do so with West Germany in 1955.
A major factor in the State Department's decision to delay negotiations on a bilateral agreement was the early state of planning for the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Common Market.
Page 7:
J. Robert Schaetzel, an aide to the special assistant to the secretary of state for atomic energy, explained that a research bilateral would allow the United States to train German scientists and engineers so as to ‘better prepare them for participation in EURATOM as a full partner’, while the FRG might be less willing to join Euratom if it was already benefitting from a US bilateral agreement.
Page 8:
Following the Geneva conference, German representatives put increasing pressure on the United States to negotiate a complete bilateral agreement quickly. Negotiations on the research bilateral moved forward, but much to Germany's dismay, US officials repeatedly deferred a bilateral agreement. Nonetheless, State Department and AEC officials encouraged the signing of contracts between US corporations and West Germany in support of the research bilateral. It was understood that final fulfilment of research reactor and fuel purchases could not be completed until an agreement was signed, which it was in February 1956. After the Euratom Treaty was signed in March 1957, negotiations on a bilateral agreement between the United States and the FRG moved forward quickly and it was signed in July.”
Taylor & Francis apologises for this error.