Science for Verification: Foreword

To deter effectively the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must look beyond thenuclear material and facilities declared by a state and provide assurancethat there are no undeclared nuclear material and activitiesin the state. In other words, the IAEA needs to have a betterunderstanding of a state’s nuclear program as a whole. That iswhy the IAEA, when also faced with an increasing workload anda static budget, has decided that it must continue to evolve theway it implements safeguards.The focus of this evolution is the advancement of the statelevelconcept: a holistic approach to safeguards implementation.In practice, this involves maintaining a continuous stateevaluation process, re-assessing traditional approaches to riskand placing renewed emphasis on the objectives of safeguardsrather than the criteria applied to their implementation. It meansmaking use of all available safeguards-relevant information andof the collaborative analytical culture and procedures necessaryto process it. These developments, which are being actively andsystematically pursued within the IAEA, also have implications forthe role of science and technology in safeguards implementation.