French support Program to IAEA Safeguards: a 30 years collaboration

France sees the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime and is fully committed to the central role played by the IAEA’s safeguards system. With the aim to demonstrate France’s political support for the IAEA’s verification activities through concrete action, France initiated the French Support Program for IAEA Safeguards (FRESPAS) 30 years ago. The FRESPAS is now one of the four major programs developed in support of the IAEA (20 to 25 active tasks). Coordinated by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), its total contribution is estimated to be worth around 1.5 million euros a year. The paper will aim to explain how French know-how and expertise in the nuclear field, and especially its understanding and experience of the entire nuclear fuel cycle (including reprocessing and manufacturing of MOX fuel), was used to support the IAEA in the evolution of safeguards implementation. Some activities will be described to illustrate how the FRESPAS has been responsive to the Agency’s needs and has been flexible enough to address the requirements of the evolution of safeguards in the fields of open source information collection and analysis, training activities, expertise, analytical services, equipment and safeguards approaches development. As France strongly encourages synergies between IAEA and European commission inspectorates to contribute to enhancing the effectiveness and the efficiency of safeguards implementation in the European Union, the paper will also highlight specific joint actions carried out with the European Commission support program.