Year
2001
Abstract
In 1978, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Federal Republic of Germany formally established the Joint Programme on the Technical Development and Further Improvement of IAEA Safeguards, i.e. the German Support Programme. However, support to the IAEA had started long before. The essential objectives of the German Support Programme have been the early provision of information on the state's nuclear activities, the participation in international discussions on safeguards issues, the provision of state-of-art safeguards techniques for worldwide application, and the provision of training courses for inspectors and technicans. The development activities are structured into the following four areas: (A) Facility specific development of safeguards approaches and design of safeguards systems, (B) safeguards data collection, treatment and evaluation, (C) development of measurement methods and techniques, and (D) development of containment and surveillance techniques. Additional support is given by delegating cost-free experts to Vienna. Presently, the participating organisations in Germany are governmental agencies, nuclear facility operators, the Juelich Research Centre, VKTA Rossendorf, the Dresden Technical University, commercial developers of equipment, the Karlsruhe School of Nuclear Technology, and DBE mining company. The paper gives an overview of the achievements, present activities, and perspectives of the German Support Programme.