STRENGTHENING THE INTERNATIONAL PHYSICAL PROTECTION REGIME: IMPLEMENTATION OF INFCIRC/225/Rev.4

Increased awareness within the international community about the need to protect nuclear material from unlawful activities that could be a threat to non-proliferation has lead to several initiatives to strengthen the physical protection of nuclear material. These initiatives range from examining whether the international obligations in the area of physical protection need to be strengthened, to improving IAEA programmes and bilateral co-operation to assist States in establishing and maintaining the necessary regulatory and technical systems. The “International Physical Protection Regime”, has recently been defined as “those widely accepted international documents containing physical protection provisions for nuclear material and nuclear facilities to which states may commit or refer, e.g., the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM), The Physical Protection of Nuclear material and Nuclear Facilities (INFCIRC-225/Rev.4) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Guidelines”. The NSG Guidelines, refers to INFCIRC/225 as a requirement for granting export license of nuclear material and equipment. This regime contains both binding and voluntary undertakings, which need to be reflected in national laws in order to become mandatory. Physical protection, as with other measures to manage nuclear material and nuclear facilities, remains a responsibility of each State, to which INFCIRC/225/Rev. 4 provides a recognized set of recommendations.