U.S. Additional Protocol Outreach Program – Tabletop Exercises to Implement the AP

The Office of International Regimes and Agreements (NA-243) is the lead office in the Department of Energy (DOE) to assist DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) sites in the preparation of providing declarations on relevant civilian, nuclear fuel cycle-related research and development activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This is in accordance to the implementation of the “Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Applications of Safeguards in the United States of America”. In preparation for entry-into-force, NA-243 conducted two tabletop exercises under the Additional Protocol Outreach Program. The first one, held in May 2004 at Los Alamos National Laboratory, focused on the factors important to protect national security assets and intellectual property. The other, held in August 2004 at the Idaho National Laboratory (formerly Argonne National Laboratory-West and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory), explored the level of detail or granularity for reporting declarable activities. Both tabletops invited participants from the national laboratories and DOE/NNSA organizations. Discussions were based around the process to identify potential declarable activities relating to the nuclear fuel cycle-related R&D projects from the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative program. The two tabletop exercises provided recommendations and conclusions that would be helpful to other DOE/NNSA locations for preparing for and reporting relevant and concise information to the IAEA under the Additional Protocol. This paper provides details on the events, discussions, observations, and lessons learned from both the LANL and INL tabletop exercises.