“Evaluation of Japanese Cooperation to Safeguards Implementation as One of Best Practices in terms of Openness and Transparency\"

Japan is the only non-nuclear weapon country that has a full-scope nuclear fuel cycle program and activities with international confidence. This study focuses on and analyzes the Japanese cooperation with IAEA safeguards implementation, mainly in terms of confidence building, in order to identify good examples or the best practices that may be also useful to other countries. As a result, this paper classifies the Japanese cooperation to IAEA safeguards implementation into the following 8 features along with corresponding examples: 1) active contribution to the development and strengthening of safeguards methods and procedures; 2) close cooperation with IAEA from the early stage of facility design; 3) close cooperation with related countries based on bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements; 4) development and application of advanced safeguards technologies; 5) active provision of information necessary for safeguards; 6) positive acceptance of various types of random inspection methods which are unpredictable and have high deterrence effects; 7) genuine cooperation with IAEA inspections; and 8) sincere responses to questions raised by IAEA. Moreover, this paper proposes several items that other states may also want to consider adopting. The result of this study is expected to be widely made use of as suitable material in the international discussion on the strengthening of international safeguards, and on transparency and openness. It is also hoped to be widely disseminated for good examples and best practices around the world.