Effects of Generation IV Reactors on International Safeguards

The purpose of this paper is to study the possible effects the implementation of Generation IV reactors will have on the current safeguards regime. It addresses the issue by first providing a background on the current status of safeguards in which the paper looks at current safeguards that have been implemented and gives a brief overview of how they work, their successes, and the drawbacks of their implementation. The paper then follows with a brief overview of some of the future safeguards that are likely to be implemented with Generation IV reactors. These future safeguards will be discussed sufficiently to provide the reader with an understanding of where safeguards are currently heading. Following the discussion of various safeguards, they are then applied to the Generation IV reactors. The proliferation concerns of these reactors are discussed, including the use of new fuels and the possibility of using them as breeder reactors, as well as the impact each of these concerns will then have on the safeguards regime at large. The paper then concludes that Generation IV reactors have the potential of greatly reducing the proliferation threat of civilian nuclear programs because of the effect they have on the distribution of proliferation risks throughout the civilian nuclear fuel cycle. By decreasing the risk of proliferation of the reactors themselves and concentrating the proliferation risks of the fuel cycle at reprocessing facilities and enrichment plants, Generation IV reactors will allow the safeguards community to use its resources more efficiently by concentrating on those critical facilities, and still have a high confidence in detecting the diversion of nuclear material throughout the civilian nuclear fuel cycle.