Safeguards Approach for Natural Uranium Conversion Plants

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has developed a new approach for safeguards at natural uranium conversion plants (NUCPs) in States with full-scope safeguards agreements. According to paragraph 34(c) of INFCIRC/153 (corrected), the model full-scope safeguards agreement, nuclear material should become subject to full safeguards measures when it reaches a purity and composition suitable for fuel fabrication or for being isotopically enriched. Past IAEA practice has been somewhat inconsistent in the technical interpretation of this requirement and, consequently, in the implementation of safeguards measures in NUCPs. In some cases, full safeguards measures have been applied to an entire conversion plant; in other cases, full safeguards measures have been applied only to the final product (normally high-purity uranium oxide or hexafluoride). Also, nuclear material subject to full safeguards measures in other types of nuclear facilities has sometimes not been subject to such measures in NUCPs. The new approach provides for a more consistent application of paragraph 34(c) of INFCIRC/153 (corrected). The basic principle of the new approach is that full safeguards measures, including nuclear material accounting reports and IAEA verification of declared inventories and inventory changes, will be applied to all purified uranium oxides and all purified aqueous solutions of uranium in NUCPs. An important consideration in the practical impact of the new safeguards approach is that many of the States with natural uranium conversion plants have additional protocols in force and are expected to be subject to State-wide “integrated” safeguards in the near future. In light of the additional protocol measures that apply to uranium mines and mills, generally strengthening safeguards in the front-end of the fuel cycle, it is anticipated that the intensity of the safeguards measures applied to NUCPs will be very low under integrated safeguards. This paper will describe the rationale for the changes in safeguards approach, the elements of the new approach and an estimate of resource requirements for implementation.