Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

BINGHAM, JOHN A. • 53
served as president of the Bank of the United States in the late 1820s
and 1830s. See also ROBERTS, EDMUND.
BILATERAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGREEMENT BETWEEN
JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES. The Japan–U.S. Atomic
Energy Agreement was Japan’s first international agreement concerning
nuclear energy. Under the agreement, which took effect in
December 1955, the U.S. provided Japan with atomic power reactors
for the first time in the country’s history. Two research reactors
(the JRR-I and JRR-II) were delivered and placed under the control
of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. Also, the U.S. supplied
enriched uranium to be used as fuel for the reactors, but with
the stipulation that spent fuel had to be returned to the U.S. government,
which in principle prevented Japan from engaging in fuel reprocessing.
In 1958, the Japan–U.S. Atomic Energy Agreement was revised to
allow Japan to undertake fuel reprocessing at atomic energy facilities
at the discretion of the U.S. government. In February 1968, the agreement
was revised again to allow Japan the freedom to engage in fuel
reprocessing under safeguard agreements that were jointly decided
by the U.S. and Japan governments. A 1973 modification to the
agreement substantially raised the ceiling on the amount of enriched
uranium the U.S. would deliver to Japan. The agreement was last updated
in July 1988 to allow the introduction of a comprehensive consent
method: The United States and Japan stipulate certain conditions
and as long as these conditions are met, pre-consent rights in reprocessing
and regulation rights of the provider government with respect
to nuclear materials can be approved en mass. Consequently, Japan
can undertake stable operations of the nuclear fuel-cycle plan with a
long-term perspective.
BINGHAM, JOHN A. (1815–1900). Bingham was elected as a United
States Congressman from Ohio from 1855 to 1863 and 1865 to 1873,
and played a leading role in the impeachment trial of President Andrew
Johnson. In 1873, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Bingham
as minister to Japan, where he served for nearly 12 years until
1895, an unusually long time. During his years in Japan, Bingham
dealt with treaty, trade, and Japanese immigration issues.