Year
2006
Abstract
As the world looks towards the expanded use of nuclear energy to alleviate pressure on the worlds limited natural resources, international safeguards must prepare itself to take on new and, possibly, unforeseen challenges. Experiences gained during the development and implementation of safeguards at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant have proven that these challenges require the employment of state-of-the-art technology and innovative methodology. These challenges require all parties - the State, the operator and the IAEA - to reach beyond the traditional safeguards approaches in order to develop a robust and resource efficient approach for complex and sensitive facilities. The challenges lay in a wide range of areas requiring expertise and development from a variety of sources. Some of these areas to be discussed include: - Building in proliferation resistance and provisions for safeguards; - Early provision of design information and techniques to maintain continuity of knowledge of its verification; - Introduction of additional measures to compensate for lack of detection capabilities, which provide assurance that the facility is operated as declared; - Use of verification systems with the highest sensitivity and reliability, while also being cost efficient; - Installation of secure and/or authenticated verification systems for unattended operation and remote data transmission ; - Maintaining independence in reaching safeguards conclusions; and - Design and development of a ‘smart’ data collection and evaluation system which reduces the required inspection effort. However, throughout the development phase and as a pre-requisite for the implementation of any complex safeguards approach, all parties must work together in a transparent and cooperative manner. This is particularly needed in the areas of system security, operational adaptations, schedule adjustments, technical development and financial support.