Lessons from the 2018 Symposium on International Safeguards

Lessons from the 2018 Symposium onInternational SafeguardsMATHEWS, C.1; TERIGI, G.2; JAFFRENNOU, F. 2; FUKUYAMA, Y. 2;GERMANOVICH, P. 2; LEONARDI, M. 21. Currently on special leave from the IAEA.2. International Atomic Energy Agency, Department of SafeguardsAbstractThe Department of Safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency organizes a Symposium onInternational Safeguards every four years. The most recent, held 5-8 November 2018 in Vienna, Austria,was titled, “Building Future Safeguards Capabilities,” and sought to achieve three complementaryobjectives: 1) seek innovative solutions to safeguards challenges; 2) strengthen existing and developnew partnerships; and 3) improve the day to day work of safeguards implementation. These objectiveswere derived from the Departmental strategic planning process, particularly the strategic objectivesrelating to stakeholder engagement, partnerships and making better use of technology. Anotherinspiration for the Symposium was the Emerging Technologies Workshop held in February of 2017 andthe insights gained through those discussions. The paper will describe the Symposium objectives andtheir basis in more detail, including the process to determine departmental priorities and to solicit andobtain contributions from a geographically diverse and gender-balanced audience. Over the course offour days, the more than 800 Symposium participants presented and discussed nearly 400 papers andposters organized into four thematic areas: 1) addressing safeguards challenges; 2) innovativetechnologies; 3) new facilities and designs; and 4) safeguards implementation. The paper will share thelessons learned by the core team in the organization of a large Symposium that sought to maximizeinteraction among participants and to deliver results.