U.S. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy: Impact on Exports and Nuclear Industry Could Not Be Determined

U.S. companies dominated the nuclear export market through the early 1970's, gaining 86 percent of free-world nuclear power reactor exports during 1970-1973. The United States also monopolized the supply of uranium enrichment services for free-world reactors. However, many foreign reactor vendors, some aided by U.S. technology sales, have emerged to capture their domestic markets, thus shrinking the market available to U.S. companies. Several foreign vendors have also competed aggressively for export sales, reducing the U.S. share of free-world reactor exports to less than 50 percent for the years 1974-1979. In addition, European and Soviet suppliers are competing for sales of uranium enrichment services. In the highly competitive nuclear export market, technology, economics, and politics may influence a customer's choice of suppliers. Divergence in nuclear nonproliferation policies is but one of the many factors.