Year
2003
Abstract
Traditional safeguards information, combined with that from other sources available to the IAEA, provides the IAEA with an enhanced view of Member State nuclear activities. Work by the IAEA in this area has expanded significantly in recent years and plays an important role in ongoing safeguards activities as well as in specific areas of interest. The IAEA is in the unique position of having available State declared nuclear material information and information declared under additional protocols that can be analysed in conjunction with information from other sources. Capabilities have been developed to readily permit an overall assessment of State nuclear activities, derived from information reported to the IAEA. Nuclear material accounting information, while remaining a cornerstone of international safeguards, is now being interleaved with other information to provide a more complete and thorough view of a State’s overall nuclear programme. Member States of the IAEA have been reporting nuclear material accounting information since the 1960s. The IAEA has observed the evolution from the first information provided pursuant to safeguards agreements, specific to individual facilities, to comprehensive safeguards agreements negotiated under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and then to the additional protocol. Over the years, the associated information technology has evolved from punched cards to integrated information systems where State declared information is combined as necessary to meet analysis needs. The Division of Safeguards Information Technology has developed methods for correlating, analysing and presenting the different types of information received. These activities comprise a critical component in the drawing of conclusions on the completeness and correctness of State declarations of their nuclear activities.