Nuclear Safeguards and Nuclear Nonproliferation

12/20/2024 2024 - #04 Current issues in nuclear energy

Bytchkov V.M.

https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2024.4.01

The author analyzes the current state of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system. Currently, the safeguards system serves as an international mechanism for verifying that non-nuclear-weapon states parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) are complying with their obligations under the Treaty.

The key obligations of such a state are: not to produce or to acquire in any way nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, as well as to conclude a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA. Such an agreement gives the Agency the right to conduct its verification activities on the territory of a State in order to confirm that the State is not diverting its nuclear material from peaceful uses to the production of nuclear weapons.

The author analyzes the safeguards system on the basis of considering its evolution from the moment of system’s creation in the 60s of the last century to the present time. He discusses the evolution of the verification concept, as well as the related notions, such as the safeguards objective and the objectives of safeguards procedures (the technical objectives). Also discussed are the problems of terminology; both the problems that arise in the course of the evolution of the system, and the problem of translating English terms into Russian.

Currently, the IAEA verification activities experience a transition from the old verification concept at the level of a nuclear facility to a new verification concept at the level of a state. The new concept formulates new technical objectives related to the detection of nuclear material and nuclear activities that have not been declared by a State under a comprehensive safeguards agreement. The author discusses the conceptual difficulties of this transition.

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IAEA safeguards NPT evolution of safeguards system safeguards objectives diversion of nuclear material objectives of safeguards procedures

Link for citing the article: Bytchkov V.M. Nuclear Safeguards and Nuclear Nonproliferation. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2024, no. 4, pp. 7-24; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2024.4.01 (in Russian).