Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, General; the United Nations, Volume I, Part 2

Department of State Atomic Energy Files

The British Embassy to the Department of State

top secret

Aide-Mémoire

Travancore monazite

In a letter dated the 11th of February 1948 addressed to Mr. Gullion, Mr. Donald Maclean enclosed the text of a memorandum by the Ministry of Supply of the British Government concerning the state of negotiations with the Travancore Government on monazite.¹

2. The Government of India have now replied to the British Government on this subject in terms set out attached.²

3. The Government of India’s reply shows that they attach great importance to the erection of a plant for processing monazite in India with a capacity for treating 3,000 tons per annum, and that while they are prepared to authorise the resumption of shipments of monazite to the United Kingdom, it would be an implied condition that arrangements would have to be made for the erection of a plant.

4. From the point of view of atomic energy, the provisional attitude of the British authorities is that, considering that thorium is not likely to be of practical importance in the production of atomic energy for ten years, and that, even if it does become important, the amounts of thorium required are not likely to be great in relation to the known supplies of monazite, the purchase of the Indian monazite in the meantime for atomic energy is not of great importance. They recognise that there may be an argument for the purchase on grounds of preemption but, for the same reasons, they do not think that this can be regarded as of great importance. Subject to the views of the United States authorities, therefore, the British authorities would propose to answer the Indian Government by saying that, while they would be prepared to purchase Indian monazite at a reasonable price, and would be happy to see the Indian Government enter into any arrangement for the erection of a plant that they could themselves make with Thorium Limited, they were not prepared to put pressure on the firm to erect a processing plant in India and, if this was a necessary condition of purchase, they would be prepared to do without the monazite.

5. In this connection it should be mentioned that Thorium Limited have expressed their inclination to withdraw the reluctant consent they had previously given to erect a processing plant of 1500 tons capacity in India (which would compete with their plant in the United Kingdom); they are considering relying on other sources outside India for their monazite requirements. Sir S. S. Bhatnagar, who is now in London, has given the British Government a list of firms which he said were prepared to assist with the erection of a plant in India. These firms included Messrs. Lindsay³ and the German firm of Auer. The British authorities do not believe that all the firms on this list would have the capacity to do the job, but, from the British point of view, the next best arrangement, if Thorium Limited were not prepared to do it, would be if Lindsay undertook the erection. The British authorities assume that this would give the United States Government some control of the output. The German Auer firm would also be able to do the work. There might be serious disadvantage if they were to do so since, according to British information, the pre-war headquarters of this firm were in what is now the Russian sector of Berlin, and they may well now be under Russian influence. The British Government are now finding out what the present position is. Another firm that has the capacity is the French firm La Société des Terres Rares, but this firm was not mentioned by Sir S. S. Bhatnagar.

6. In considering this subject, the British Government have reviewed the thorium requirements of the Agency countries and their stocks. The United Kingdom has some fifty tons thorium oxide (THO2) derived from the 700 tons of monazite shipped from Travancore under the Agreement of 2nd April 1947.⁴ United Kingdom atomic energy requirements are still extremely conjectural since they depend on research work into the production and use of U 233. According to present tentative estimates, this usage in research over the next five years will certainly not exceed 40 tons of THO2. 100 tons has been very provisionally estimated as the 10-year requirement. Lindsay has a surplus of 5 tons per month THO2 which they have recently offered to the United Kingdom and which the latter have refused. Assuming this offer is still open, if this surplus was purchased for one year, the United Kingdom could, with existing stocks, cover their probable requirements over ten years.

7. So far as the British Government know, Canada has no more than research requirements of thorium for atomic energy which they will hope to obtain from the United Kingdom and which do not necessitate any modification of the above figures.

8. The British Government have no exact information about the American position but they believe that the United States Atomic Energy Commission thorium requirements over the next ten years may be less than those of the United Kingdom and that the United States Atomic Energy Commission will have no difficulty in meeting them.

9. To summarize, the total requirements over the next ten years of thorium oxide for the three atomic energy projects referred to above are unlikely to exceed 200 tons (THO2); a substantial portion of this is already in hand and there should be no difficulty, the British Government consider, in finding the balance from Brazil, assuming that output there continues to run at the present rate of about 1500 tons of monazite per annum (say 90 to 100 tons THO2). It should therefore, in the opinion of the British Government, be possible to leave Travancore monazite out of account in reviewing the atomic energy programmes of the Agency countries over the next ten years.

10. As regards commercial requirements, it would appear that both Lindsay and Thorium Limited are relatively happy about thorium supplies though they are extremely worried about cerium.

11. The picture therefore is that, over the next ten years, Travancore monazite is of interest from the atomic energy point of view to the Agency countries for pre-emption motives and because it may be de-desirable to conserve good will against the possibility of later requirements. The commercial firms are interested because of their shortage of cerium.

12. The British Embassy would be grateful for the views of the United States Government on the following points:

(a) the proposed answer to the Government of India referred to in para. 4 above.

(b) the importance attached by the United States Government to the pre-emption of Travancore monazite.

(c) the British Government’s estimate referred to in para. 8 above of United States Atomic Energy Commission requirements of thorium, together with any information which the United States authorities may be able to provide concerning their stocks of THO2.

13. Sir S. S. Bhatnagar has told the British Government that Mr. Nehru is personally interested in this question and hopes to reach a settlement with them about it during his present visit to London. The British Embassy would therefore be grateful for a very early reply to the above points if possible by the 22nd of October.⁵

Washington, 20th October, 1948.

1. Letter and enclosure not printed.
2. Attachment not printed.
3. Lindsay Light and Chemical Company, an American firm.
4. The agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and Travancore is not printed.
5. Prime Minister Nehru was in London for the two week conference of Commonwealth nations which ended on October 22.