Enhancing the Effectiveness of International Atomic Energy Agency Safeguards Implementation

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards system faces a number of serious challenges. First, the Agency is applying safeguards under greater number of safeguards agreements and additional protocols. Second, the IAEA must safeguard ever-increasing amounts of nuclear material in more nuclear facilities. Some of these facilities have large throughput, are technologically complex, or are of a new type, e.g., encapsulation. Third, implementation of Agency safeguards has been evolving to investigate undeclared nuclear and nuclear-related activities. The IAEA, for instance, has been charged with the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action under United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2231.1 Fourth, during the last two and a half decades, several countries have been found to have seriously violated their safeguards obligations in pursuit of nuclear weapons capabilities. These violations have included undeclared nuclear activities, including clandestine enrichment programs and activities related to spent fuel reprocessing. Despite these challenges, the IAEA’s safeguards budget has only received modest gains since 2010 (Table 1).