10. RETIREMENT PLANS AND POST RETIREMENT PENSION PLANS

Components of net periodic costs. For the three months ended January 31, 2017 and 2016, our net pension and post retirement benefit costs were comprised of the following:



	Pensions
	U.S. Plans						Non-U.S. Plans						U.S. Post Retirement Benefit Plans
	Three Months Ended January 31,
	2017			2016			2017			2016			2017			2016
	(in millions)
Service cost—benefits earned during the period	$	—		$	6		$	4		$	4		$	—		$	—
Interest cost on benefit obligation	3			3			3			4			1			1
Expected return on plan assets	(6		)	(6		)	(10		)	(11		)	(2		)	(2		)
Amortization:
Actuarial losses	1			2			9			7			3			3
Prior service cost	—			(1		)	—			—			(2		)	(2		)
Total net plan costs	$	(2	)	$	4		$	6		$	4		$	—		$	—
Curtailments and settlements gains				$	(16	)	$	(32	)

We made no contributions to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the three months ended January 31, 2017. We contributed $3 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the three months ended January 31, 2017.

We made no contributions to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the three months ended January 31, 2016. We contributed $4 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the three months ended January 31, 2016.

We expect to contribute $25 million to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the remainder of 2017 and we expect to contribute $17 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the remainder of 2017.

In Japan, Agilent has defined benefit pension plans established under the Japanese Welfare Pension Insurance Law (JWPIL). The plans are composed of (a) a substitutional portion based on the pay-related part of the old-age pension benefits prescribed by JWPIL (similar to social security benefits in the United States) and (b) a corporate portion based on a contributory defined benefit pension arrangement established at the discretion of the company. During the three months ended January 31, 2017, Agilent received government approval and returned the substitutional portion of Japan's pension plan to the Japanese government, as allowed by the JWPIL. The transfer resulted in a net gain of $32 million recorded within cost of sales and operating expenses in the condensed consolidated statement of operations. The net gain consisted of two parts - a gain of $41 million, representing the difference between the fair values of the Accumulated Benefit Obligation (ABO) settled of $65 million and the assets transferred from the pension trust to the government of Japan of $24 million, offset by a settlement loss of $9 million related to the recognition of previously unrecognized actuarial losses included in accumulated other comprehensive income.

Plan Amendments. During the three months ended January 31, 2016, we made changes to our U.S. Retirement Plan and Supplemental Benefits Retirement Plan ("U.S. Plans"). Effective April 30, 2016, benefit accruals under the U.S. Plans were frozen. Any pension benefit earned in the U.S. Plans through April 30, 2016 remained fully vested, and there were no additional benefit accruals after April 30, 2016. In addition, active employees who have not met the eligibility requirement for the Retiree Medical Account (RMA) under the U.S. Post Retirement Benefit Plan - 55 years old with at least 15 years of Agilent service - as of April 30, 2016 - will only be eligible for 50 percent of the current RMA reimbursement amount upon retirement.

Due to these plan amendments, we recorded a curtailment gain of $15 million in the U.S. Plans during the three months ended January 31, 2016. In addition, we recognized a settlement gain of $1 million related to the U.S. Supplemental Benefits Retirement Plan during the three months ended January 31, 2016.