An Update of IAEA Analytical Capabilities for Safeguards Goals, Results and Challenges

Until 1991, the principal function of the IAEA's Safeguards Analytical Laboratory and Network of Analytical Laboratories for Safeguards analyses was to analyze samples of nuclear materials and heavy water requested by IAEA inspectors on the basis of random sampling plans in order to verify the accountability data declared by the states. Independence, accuracy and satisfactory response times are the paramount characteristics expected for such analyses. The major progresses in this respect will be reviewed. After the Gulf War of 1991 and the conclusions of the 93+2 Programme, environmental sampling became a major tool of the IAEA for gaining confidence that illicit nuclear weapon capabilities were not developed clandestinely in contravention to safeguards agreements. The inspections first focused on the detection of potential undeclared uranium enrichment and plutonium separation. The NWAL was therefore expanded to include laboratories having the required expertise. A clean laboratory facility was added to SAL and equipped with Class 100 chemical laboratory rooms and highly sensitive instruments. It provides sampling kits, screens the samples when they are received in Seibersdorf, performs confirmatory measurements and manages a measurement quality control program. The appropriate balance of resources for nuclear material analysis vs. environmental sample analysis is one of the new challenges, as budget restrictions threaten already with the progressive closing of several NWALs. We otherwise face five analytical challenges: (1) regularly reaching 0.1% or better accuracy in the accountability of large amounts of plutonium and high-enriched uranium, (2) equipping and operating an on-site laboratory at the Rokkasho-Mura plant, (3) clarifying the precision, accuracy and limits of detection required for environmental sample analyses, (4) developing reference and control materials suitable for checking the analyses of solid particulates in environmental samples, and (5) identifying the signatures and procedures appropriate for wide-range detection.