Hungary’s SSAC experience and the the IAEA State-Level Concept

Twelve years have elapsed since Hungary submitted its first Additional Protocol (AP) declaration to the IAEA in the year 2000. The Integrated Safeguards System of the IAEA was introduced in 2004 as one of the first State in Europe and just before Hungary joined the European Union and its regional safeguards system. The fulfilment of the international obligations related to the supranational safeguards systems are ensured by keeping the nuclear materials and related activities under strict domestic control, which is implemented by a comprehensive domestic safeguards system and a set of regulatory control instruments. The experience Hungary has gained during the state level implementation of the different international safeguards agreements as well as its domestic system will be presented in the paper in light of the new IAEA State-Level Concept. Since Integrated Safeguards was introduced in Hungary just before its admission to the European Union, the effect of an RSAC on the domestic as well as on the integrated safeguards system in Hungary will also be discussed. Finally, the paper will address the issue of how these achievements could be assessed and taken into account by the IAEA in developing its state level safeguards objectives under the new State-level concept. Keywords: IAEA State-level Concept; SSAC, RSAC, domestic safeguards; regulatory control.