米国「平和のための原子力」キャンペーンの一環としてのN.S.サバンナ号開発 : 原子力商船の政治的含意の変容に関する考察

To win the favor of Asian and African have-not countries at the Bandung Conference, the Eisenhower Administration wanted to create its benevolent image of boosting the whole world’s welfare by using a nuclear merchant ship, N.S. Savannah as a moving showcase in the U.S. Atoms for Peace campaign abroad. However, the American “philanthropic” Atoms for Peace enthusiasm waned soon. N.S. Savannah visited only the ports in Western European industrial countries for a maiden voyage abroad before 1965. The initial development of N.S. Savannah and the following cruise encouraged the scientists and engineers in Europe to explore such ships’ feasibility. European Nuclear Energy Agency explored the possibility of a multinational civilian nuclear ship; the concept attracted some U.S State Department officials’ attention to examine the similar problems caused by the international ownership for some vessels in NATO’s Multilateral Force (MLF). In the latter half of the 1960s, N.S. Savannah finally started traveling around the North African and Asian regions. However, Japan rejected the port call in Japanese territories in 1967. Instead, the U.S. visited the Naha military port in Ryukyu under the U.S. military and High Commissioner’s control. In the welcoming ceremony, Naha Mayor Junji Nishime presented a miniature model of Japanese Torii (Shrine gate) as a souvenir to N.S. Savannah . Meanwhile, Japanese scientists and engineers could join the rite mentioned above and go on board, though the Japanese government rejected Savannah’s visit. This moment seemed to predict the upcoming inequal power structure revolving around nuclear energy use.