Compliance under a Small Quantities Protocol to a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement

Questions have arisen over the past two decades about whether an NPT state - a state that has joined the Nonproliferation Treaty - is meeting its obligations under a comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA based on INFCIRC/153. Such compliance questions center on the possible existence of undeclared nuclear material, facilities or proliferation- significant activities. Recently questions about undeclared nuclear activities have been raised in non-governmental reports with regard to an NPT state that has not declared nuclear activities and has little nuclear material in the state. That state, like a substantial number of NPT states, has a so-called Small Quantities Protocol (SQP) to its comprehensive safeguards agreement. New issues about compliance arise in this situation because the IAEA does not implement full safeguards in states with an SQP, and does not perform routine inspections. This paper discusses how the compliance provisions of the IAEA Statute and comprehensive safeguards agreements apply in NPT states under an SQP. It will address the IAEA’s rights and obligations, the conditions that would activate full safeguards in a state with an SQP, and the IAEA Board of Governors’ consideration of a noncompliance case for a State with an SQP.