ABSTRACT

The Atoms for Peace program had its beginning with President Dwight D. Eisenhower's plea for international nuclear cooperation before the UN General Assembly. The US initiative induced other developed countries to take similar measures. The USSR assisted the East European countries, and the United Kingdom, France, and Canada started their own international cooperation and training programs. One of the major advantages of the Atoms for Peace program was the much needed stimulation of their indigenous science and technology efforts and the awakening of their governments to the multifaceted benefits of atomic energy. Although Pakistan and the United States never had a bilateral agreement in the field of atomic energy, through the International Atomic Energy Agency the United States supplied Pakistan with a 5 megawatts pool-type research reactor under the Atoms for Peace program. That reactor formed the hub around which the physics, chemistry, and engineering laboratories of Pakistan's Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology developed.