An Inspector's Assessment of the New Model Safeguards Approach for Enrichment Plants

Other than the addition of environmental sampling, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, or Agency) inspections at gas centrifuge enrichment plants (GCEPs, hereafter referred to as enrichment plants) have been relatively consistent since the advent of the Hexapartite Safeguards Project (HSP) in the 1980s. However, developments in centrifuge technology have spawned larger, increasingly flexible cascades that no longer conform to original HSP assumptions. Ameliorations intended to redress this matter have been suggested by the IAEA Director General’s Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation (SAGSI). Their proposed changes along with those proffered by others have been consolidated under the appellation—the Model Safeguards Approach for Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plants. This paper will assess portions of this model from the perspective of a former safeguards inspector.