LIFT ATOMIC SECRETS

Chronicle (Levin), 4 June 1946, Page 5

LIFT ATOMIC SECRETS

SCIENTISTS' MEMORANDUM LOXDOX, Alay 31. The first atom nieiuorandiiiii ]>repnrefl kv the new Atomic Scientists' Associ•ition for siibmission to tlie Knited Xations Atomic Energy Commission recominends the lifting of all secrecy; start- > ii ti with the release of :ill basic scientific infoi'inatioii ; also that eventually all research developuient should be car1'iod on freely and openlv, with the duty to report to the Knited Xations anv -ignilicant results, which would, in general, also be published. Tlie nieiiK)raiidumr which is . said to have received wide sup])nrt t'r.0111' leading scientists. stresses the 1 ' urgencv of sicuring early inlernational agreenient f'oi an effective systeui of international '(■ntrol, based on ihe prineiple that all production of material essential for tlie "uanu facture of tlie ntoi.r bomb should bc- earried out under the direction of an 'nternatimial authority responsible to Mu- Knited Xations." This control shoulil be iniplemented by a svstem of hapori ion. giving inspectors appointed by the Knited Xations right of aeces? ■o any yilace in ahy eountry. All major sources of raw materials nd all major production plants should 1 >o handed over to the Knited Xations to be opeiat^d possilily by national con'ractors and gnarded men, also respondble to the Knited Xations. The nieiuorandiuii reconimends tliat Mu- Knited Xations Connnission should '(iisti'uct and oporate new large-scale lants distributed throughout tlie world o ensure that if any nation seized eonrol of loeal ])lants the remainder of tlxo "nited Xations would jointly possess ■i' overwhelniing superiority in the proluction of fissionable material.

Reeonnnending that the disposal of ictive materials produeed in such .•lants should be reservod to the.Kixiled Xations, and that any bombs jjiiaile -be'"oie or after introduction of the scheme Mioxxld be kept in stores distributed th rough out the world, the memorandum says that this does not imply that the signatories regard the atom bomb as a loirable weapon for cari*ving out the Knited Xations' political funetions. ' ' Xn the pre.sent state of world ap-1-1 ehensiou it seems neeessary tliat atom bombs should be produeed and "ontrollod iiiternat.ioiially to yn'event m ill-disposed nation liolding the threat of atomic welfarc over peaceioving nations," the memorandum says. ' ' Wlien, howev'er, the control authority is functioning cffectively it sliould be possible to envisage the cessation of the production of atomic woapons and the destruction of existing stocks. Tlien, atomic explosive eould be used for peacoful purposes only. " The memorandum proposed that the free movement and interehange of all scientists sliould be perniitted. Tlie signatories to the memorandum ineluded Professors Olipliant, P. M. S. Blacket, H. (S. W. Massey, Sir Geoffrey Tavlor, Hir George Thomson, and ProI'essor M. H. L. Pryce Wykeiuan-, processor of tlieoretical physics at Oxford.