10. RETIREMENT PLANS AND POST RETIREMENT PENSION PLANS

Components of net periodic costs. For the three and nine months ended July 31, 2018 and 2017, our net pension and post retirement benefit costs were comprised of the following:



	Three Months Ended July 31,
	U.S. Pension Plans						Non-U.S. Pension Plans						U.S. Post Retirement Benefit Plans
	2018			2017			2018			2017			2018			2017
	(in millions)
Service cost—benefits earned during the period	$	—		$	—		$	6		$	5		$	—		$	—
Interest cost on benefit obligation	4			4			3			3			1			1
Expected return on plan assets	(7		)	(7		)	(11		)	(10		)	(2		)	(1		)
Amortization:
Actuarial losses	1			—			7			9			2			3
Prior service credits	—			—			—			—			(2		)	(2		)
Total net plan costs	$	(2	)	$	(3	)	$	5		$	7		$	(1	)	$	1
Settlements gains	$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—



	Nine Months Ended July 31,
	U.S. Pension Plans						Non-U.S. Pension Plans						U.S. Post Retirement Benefit Plans
	2018			2017			2018			2017			2018			2017
	(in millions)
Service cost—benefits earned during the period	$	—		$	—		$	16		$	13		$	—		$	—
Interest cost on benefit obligation	12			12			9			9			3			4
Expected return on plan assets	(21		)	(19		)	(34		)	(30		)	(6		)	(5		)
Amortization:
Actuarial losses	1			2			22			27			6			8
Prior service credits	—			(1		)	—			—			(6		)	(6		)
Total net plan costs	$	(8	)	$	(6	)	$	13		$	19		$	(3	)	$	1
Settlements gains	$	—		$	—		$	(5	)	$	(32	)	$	—		$	—

We made no contributions to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2018. We contributed $5 million and $16 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2018, respectively.

We contributed zero and $25 million to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2017. We contributed $6 million and $15 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the three and nine months ended July 31, 2017, respectively.

We do not expect to contribute to our U.S. defined benefit plans during the remainder of 2018 and we expect to contribute $8 million to our non-U.S. defined benefit plans during the remainder of 2018.

Japanese Welfare Pension Insurance Law. In Japan, Agilent has employees' pension fund plans, which are 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 nine months ended July 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 initial transfer resulted in a net gain of $32 million which was 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. In the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, after the Japanese government’s final review of our initial payment, we received a refund of $5.2 million which was recorded as a settlement gain.