Reprocessing Facilities: Safeguards and the Shipper-Receiver Difference

Despite the proliferation concerns and the debate on the utility of reprocessing to waste management efforts, countries continue to pursue reprocessing facilities and capabilities. Mitigating these proliferation concerns are the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards efforts applied at most reprocessing facilities. This paper will begin with a discussion on how reprocessing facilities work and how safeguards efforts are applied to reprocessing facilities in general. It will also use the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant as a case study and tool to illustrate the application of safeguards at a reprocessing plant. This case study will highlight the issue of the shipper receiver difference, the importance of developing an effective near real-time accountancy method, and why quantitative analysis of the spent nuclear fuel received at reprocessing facilities are vital to effective safeguards efforts