The In July 1985, a U.S.-China Agreement on Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy was signed in Washington. This Agreement was submitted to Congress for a required 90 day review period. review period ended December 9, 1985, and the agreement was brought into force on December 30. The Agreement will allow trade with the PRC in non-sensitive materials, facilities, components, technology, and information. A joint resolution of Congress stipulates that the President shall make certain certifications and a report to Congress before U.S. exports under the agreement begin. Japan In 1985 DOE signed four agreements with Japan. An umbrella agreement was signed for a cooperative program in the area of High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors. An agreement was completed in the area of Waste Management which allowed the Japanese to participate in the testing of a Liquid-Fed Ceramic Melter, a device which is designed to make possible the disposal of high level nuclear wastes safely and economically. Two Specific Memoranda of Agreement were signed between DOE and the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation for Japan (PNC). These are pursuant to the DOZ/PNC Agreement on Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors. One Specific Memorandum of Understanding makes possible joint testing of various PNC-made fuels and materials in the Fast Flux Test Facility, a fuel and materials test reactor in Hanford, Washington. The other allows PNC to conduct experiments at the Tower Shielding Test Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to study neutron behavior in various materials and material configurations. United Kingdom In October 1984 the Secretary of Energy signed a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration in energy research and development with the United Kingdom. The MOU included a statement of principles upon which bilateral--and future multilateral--collaboration can be based. In 1985 an information exchange agreement under this MOU was concluded between the U.S. and the UK. Italy DOE signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Italian Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Handicraft (MOI) for cooperation in energy research and development in areas of mutual benefit. Thirteen cooperative activities were initiated in the field of fossil energy, covering technologies such as advanced coal preparation, advanced environmental control technology, catalysts for coal gasification, coal liquefaction, coal-water mixtures, and combustion. Several other activities are under discussion in the renewable energy technology area--for example, photovoltaics and wind. Israel The DOE signed an Agreement on energy research and development with the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure of Israel. agreement includes cooperation in the fields of coal, oil shale, solar energy, and conservation, the principle energy interests of Israel. Israel imports 98 percent of its energy resources at high cost and seeks development of its oil shale and renewable energy resources to improve its energy security. Seven annexes have been signed under the general agreement for specific joint energy research and development projects. Four of these annexes are in the field of fossil energy and three are in renewable energy. A similar general agreement between DOE and the Ministry of Science of Israel is under discussion. Saudi Arabia DOE continued its cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the field of solar energy under the U.S.-Saudi Arabia SOLERAS project which was initiated in 1979. SOLERAS funding totaled $100 million divided equally between the two governments. Efforts are underway to negotiate a one-year extension to this agreement through January 1987 to permit completion of several ongoing projects. Recent achievements by the joint program include the continuation of fundamental photovoltaic and solar thermal research utilizing the unique facility developed under this agreement. The solar desalination plant began operation and continues to provide valuable data on advanced state-of-the-art concepts in the efficient utilization of solar energy for sea water desalination. In addition to advancing the technological state-of-the-art in solar energy applications, SOLERAS is sponsoring basic solar energy research at nine universities in the United States and is contributing to the dissemination of scientific and technical solar energy information through its sponsorship of annual solar energy technology workshops and short university-level courses. U.S.S.R. The U.S.-U.S.S.R. Agreement on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy was renewed in 1985 for another two years after a careful review of the past three years of cooperation. Topics covered under this agreement deal with fusion science and the study of the fundamental properties of matter. At the Geneva Summit, the President and Chairman Gorbachev emphasized the potential importance of work in fusion energy for peaceful purposes. They advocated, in this connection, wider practical development of international cooperation in obtaining this essentially inexhaustible source of energy for the benefit of all mankind. Other Programs DOE currently has twenty active bilateral fossil energy projects underway between the U.S. and nine foreign countries. The foreign countries involved are Brazil, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Israel, Korea, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Venezuela. These projects promote technology development and information exchange in an number of key areas, including oil recovery techniques and coal utilization and conversion processes. Further projects on renewable energy such as solar, as well as oil shale recovery techniques, are under consideration. U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Bilateral Information Exchange Arrangements Like the DOE, the NRC participates in a wide-ranging and continually expanding program of information exchange and cooperative safety and research activities with its international counterparts. Since May 1974, the NRC has conducted most of its general technical information exchange under the umbrella of a series of nuclear safety arrangements concluded with the regulatory authorities of the following countries and areas of the world: Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia. These 22 arrangements, which are effective for a period of five years from their date of signature but contain provisions for renewal by mutual agreement, establish a mechanism for the timely exchange of significant reactor safety information and set up official communications channels for the sharing of information on broad reactor safety problems and other matters of mutual interest. They also serve as the conduit for most of the nuclear safety assistance that the NRC is able to provide to developing countries, particularly to those importing U.S. reactors and other equipment. This information exchange program was initially intended to involve only those countries having major power reactor programs of U.S. design, but early on and by direct request it was expanded to include several countries just entering the nuclear field as well as those giving serious consideration to the question of nuclear power. The arrangements with Sweden, the Philippines, and Finland were all renewed during the period covered by this report, and a new and long-awaited arrangement with the Yugoslav Committee for Energy and Industry was completed. Negotiations on the renewals of existing arrangements with Japan and Denmark are under way. Bilateral and Multilateral Safety Research Agreements The NRC has also established a network of general and specific agreements on research cooperation which has grown tremendously in both depth and substance over the last few years. The NRC currently has over 50 agreements with 14 countries under which it cooperates in ongoing nuclear safety research projects both in the U.S. and overseas. These research projects make direct contributions of data and analysis needed to confirm and assess computer codes used in the NRC licensing and regulatory process. Some of the cooperative research involve experiments performed in U.S. facilities with foreign entities making direct cash contributions (as high as $5 million each) to participate; some involve the foreign country providing results of other Complementary or supplementary research it sponsored in an area of interest to the U.S. In other cases, experiments are performed overseas, and the U.S. either contributes instrumentation, test analysis and on-site experts, or makes direct case contributions to the host program. Some of the programs are purely analytical with from two to ten countries contributing towards the assessment of safety analysis computer codes using experts, computers and data from their own test facilities. This has the benefit of assuring that the computer codes give realistic, consistent answers to regulatory questions concerning a gamut of nuclear accidents as analyzed by different people in varying environments. The net effect on the NRC regulatory program of this international research cooperation is the provision to the U.S. of approximately $300 million worth of research for which the U.S. would otherwise have had to pay. U.S. Geological Survey Conventional Energy Resources Identification Under an agreement with and funded by the Agency for International Development (AID), the U.S. Geological Survey conducts energy resources assessments in various countries. Studies in FY 85 were conducted for coal in Pakistan, the Philippines, Costa Rica, and Haiti. Funding totaled about $300,000; Pakistan and Haiti contributed $10,000 each; Costa Rica contributed $175,000; and the Philippines contributed $105,000. About 1-1/2 man-years of effort were utilized in Costa Rica, 1 in the Philippines, and 0.1 each in Pakistan and Haiti. Work on coal resources in Haiti and Panama is proposed for FY 1986. Energy resources studies probably also will be done in several other AID-assisted countries yet to be selected. U.S. Geological Survey studies of foreign energy resources give the U.S. government increased knowledge of worldwide conventional energy sources, identification of resources as possible sources of supply, establishment of contacts, channels, and sources for information, and data upon which to formulate foreign policy and international relationships. Results of activities in FY 1985 are described below. Pakistan Work was done in Pakistan to complete a participating Agency Services Agreement (PASA) for a 4-year program of coal resources assessment that will begin in FY 1986. Philippines In the Philippines, the Survey determined that Semirara Island, off the coast of the Island of Mindoro, contains adequately large mineable reserves of coal of acceptable quality to support a conversion from imported fuel oil to coal-water-mix (CWM) fuel for the Sucat electric generating station near Manila, on the Island of Luzon. The coal assessment study was done as part of an AID-funded project to determine the feasibility of introducing CWM fuels to the Philippines. In the course of the study, the Survey cooperated with: The Brookhaven National Laboratory, which established the technical feasibility of preparing and burning the CWM fuel; Burns and Roe, Inc., which established the engineering feasiblity and schedules for retrofitting the generator equipment and the feasibility of CWM fuel transport by pipeline; Development Sciences, Inc., which established source and transportation modes for the CWM fuel, estimated costs, assessed economic and financial benefits, and identified implementation principles; and the Economic Development Foundation, Inc., of the Philippines which facilitated and assisted in all activities carried on in the Philippines and was responsible for communicating all results of the project to the Philippines Development Bank and to appropriate Philippine Government Ministries. The CWM fuel technology is considered commercial in the United States and other developed countries. CWM fuel has been formulated using high rank bituminous coals from the eastern United States. Transportation by coal-water slurry also has been adapted for lower rank coals from the western United States. Philippine project is significant in that it requires adoption of both technologies to formulate CWM fuel from low rank Semirara sub-bituminous coal for transportation and direct combustion. The high inherent moisture (25 percent) of Semirara coal limits the CWM fuel to one containing relatively low dry coal weight (50 to 57 percent) and correspondingly low heat values. The project results are positive: the coal supply is adequate formulation of a CWM fuel is successful; retrofitting the generator and transportation of CWM fuel are feasible, and estimates of economic and financial benefits and return on investments are impressive. Coal in most of the developing countries of the world is low rank, lignite, or sub-bituminous. The coal-water-mix fuel for electricity generation as developed for the Philippines may have widespread application to other nations. Costa Rica During the last three years a program of technical assistance in coal resources assessment has been carried on by the Survey with Costa Rica in cooperation with a national petroleum refining agency and under the auspices of AID. General reconnaissance was done in nine areas where coal had been reported. The project was successful in that several counterparts were trained to the extent that they can carry out coal assessment work independently. Approximately 15 to 17 million tons of coal were determined to exist. Haiti The U.S. Geological Survey coordinated and supervised the collection, packaging, and shipment of a 500-pound sample of coal from a coal field of Haiti for delivery to the University of North Dakota Energy Research Center for analysis and experimentation for briquetting a smokeless fuel. The World Energy Resources Program Activities during FY 1985 included: - Update study of Barents Sea and surrounding lands. New drilling reports from Norway plus a field trip to Svalbard. Basin studies of western China provided the first modern |