Chapter 66 The peaceful use of atomic energy has instead become an excuse for interfering in internal affairs

But there are growing signs around the world that technology transfers from major European countries and Japan to selected developing countries are taking place and that further, more forceful and decisive action is possible.While the Colombo front was virtually lost, the idea of ​​North-South economic cooperation was yielding real results in dramatic new ways. At the end of 1975, the Brazilian government and the Schmidt government of Germany reached an agreement on the construction of nuclear power plants, enrichment fuel equipment and related technologies, and signed the largest single nuclear energy contract in the world at that time with the German nuclear reactor manufacturer KWU.Germany will build eight nuclear power reactors in a "turnkey" manner, as well as a complete set of nuclear fuel cycle facilities including enrichment equipment.The project is expected to be completed before 1990 at a total cost of $5 billion.Urenco, the European uranium enrichment group, will initially provide the uranium fuel. In 1975, Brazil also signed a $2.5 billion cooperation agreement with France to build an experimental fast nuclear reactor.Washington is doing everything it can to force Germany and Brazil to cancel the project.If this plan is put into practice, Brazil will become a country that is not controlled by the United States and Britain in terms of energy, and more importantly, it can also get rid of the blackmail of oil by the United States and Britain.

Mexico, not yet a significant oil exporter in the 1970s, also decided to develop nuclear power for obvious economic reasons as part of its rapid industrialization program.That way, its oil "legacy" can be used elsewhere, such as earning export dollars.In its early nuclear program, Mexico signed contracts with Japan's Mitsubishi and Germany's Siemens. In 1975, early in the oil crisis, Mexico's National Energy Council decided that burning hydrocarbons to generate electricity was wasteful and inefficient.Then they announced plans to build 15 new nuclear power reactors within 20 years.

The Pakistani government under Prime Minister Bhutto responded to the 1974 oil crisis by accelerating a small-scale nuclear energy program.In pursuit of an independent national development policy, Bhutto led Pakistan out of the Commonwealth. Negotiations between the Bhutto government and France on the construction of a fuel enrichment facility in Pakistan were concluded in March 1976.Pakistan is becoming a convincing lobbyist, lobbying all Middle Eastern countries to convince them that the development of nuclear energy is the most important thing besides oil resources. In August 1976, the U.S. State Department and Kissinger himself began pressuring France and Pakistan to abort their deal, which they claimed revealed an ambition to develop nuclear weapons.Although Pakistan has the approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it believes that it has enough safety monitors to ensure the peaceful use of atomic energy, but it still does not help.According to the Pakistani side, earlier this year, in Lahore, Kissinger directly threatened that if Bhutto did not abandon the nuclear reprocessing project negotiations with France, then "he will make Pakistan a model of terror".

In 1977, a coup led by General Ziahake overthrew Bhutto's government.Before being hanged, Bhutto accused US Secretary of State Kissinger of being behind the coup because he insisted on developing Pakistan's independent nuclear energy program.Before his execution, Bhutto wrote a self-defense statement in prison, saying: As the Secretary of State of the United States, Dr. Henry Kissinger has a smart brain."I shouldn't have said that a reprocessing plant was necessary to meet Pakistan's energy needs, which pissed off US intelligence," he said.In response, I told him that I wasn't trying to annoy US intelligence by discussing Pakistan's energy needs, but equally he should never have insulted the sovereignty and dignity of Pakistanis by discussing nuclear facilities... I was sentenced got the death penalty.

General Ziahake abandoned Bhutto's independent foreign policy and quickly threw himself into the arms of Washington.With that came massive amounts of military aid. But the most impressive nuclear move by a developing country in the early days of the 1974 oil crisis was definitely that of the Shah of Iran.The shah owes his rise to power to a 1953 coup orchestrated by British and American intelligence agencies that toppled the nationalist Mossadegh government and restored a pro-American monarchy.The Shah of Iran appears to be a grateful recipient of more than two decades of U.S. military and other aid.At the OPEC meeting in January 1974, he even agreed with Kissinger's claim that OPEC's benchmark oil price would rise to $11.65 per barrel.

But as new oil revenues increasingly flow to the US Treasury, the shah sees an opportunity to realize an ancient dream.Iran can use its oil wealth to build one of the most modern energy infrastructures in the world, based on nuclear power generation, which will change the demand for electricity and other energy sources throughout the Near East. By 1978, Iran had the fourth largest nuclear energy program in the world and the largest in a Third World country.The Shah's plan calls for the installation of 20 nuclear power reactors by 1995, providing a total of 23 megawatts of electricity.The Shah sees nuclear power as a logical way to diversify Iran's reliance on gasoline, and to resist Washington and London's efforts to divert Iran's petrodollars to New York and London banks.

The Shah's main partners in developing a nuclear energy program are France and Germany.As early as 1974, Iran had signed an interim agreement with France to build five nuclear reactors and a nuclear energy research center.The agreement was expanded in 1975 to build eight reactors at a total cost of $8.6 billion.In addition, Iran purchased a 10% stake in the uranium enrichment facility being built by France in Tricastan and provided a loan of US$1 billion for the construction of the facility. In 1976, Iran and the German nuclear energy company KWU signed a contract totaling DM 7.8 billion to build two nuclear reactors and infrastructure.This was followed in 1977 by an agreement to supply four more reactors at a total cost of DM 19 billion.In addition, in the name of the shah, Iran invested in major European industrial companies, including a 25% stake in Krupp in Germany, and invested in nuclear enrichment facilities in France.Iran's economic ties with continental Europe are increasing dramatically.During that period, under President Carter's draconian anti-nuclear policies, the United States was not involved in exporting nuclear reactor technology and had worked hard to block the German and French deal.

After the oil crisis in 1973, whether in Western Europe or developing regions, in every country, nuclear energy facilities are gradually becoming the fastest growing energy infrastructure besides oil.