Addressing Training Needs of Security and Safeguards Implementation Officers at nuclear facilities

Officers at nuclear facilities have substantial responsibilities in the management of nuclear materials: They have to assure that nuclear material is properly controlled and accounted for; they need to detect and deter unauthorized access and removal of nuclear material and protect it from an insider threat in addition to an external threat. The prime responsibility for the implementation of physical protection of nuclear material and facilities rests entirely with the Operator. At the same time, they need to comply with their States’ commitments on nuclear non-proliferation that uses nuclear material accountancy as a fundamental verification measure. To perform such a variety of tasks, facility officers responsible for safeguards and security require a set of Skills, Knowledge and Attitudes (SKA) commensurate with their responsibilities and tasks. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other countries have conducted regularly a series of training courses, the vast majority of which were targeted to regulatory authorities and dealt with topics on nuclear material accountancy for safeguards. Nuclear security is more multi-disciplinary than safeguards and it involves varieties of stakeholders, so that courses are designed not only to regulatory authorities and but also to other stakeholders such as law enforcement, the frontline officers, emergency responders in order to guide states to establish and maintain its nuclear security regimes. Also, in nuclear security, the operator has the prime responsibility of implementation of physical protection system at the facility. For nuclear security courses, topics include the development of the design basis threat, physical protection of nuclear materials and facility, physical protection inspection at nuclear facility, transport security, radiation detection at the borders, nuclear forensics, insider threat, and so on. However, there were few courses dedicated to facility officers or operators addressing holistically their security and safeguards requirements. This paper analyses the evolution of training courses for regulatory authorities and facility personnel in a changing environment from nuclear non-proliferation focused- era to the current broader approach encompassing safeguards and security. Then it recalls some conceptual developments of the recent past and attempts to justify a change in direction on the focus of Member State’s training. Finally, it brings some specific proposals towards strengthening and increasing security and safeguards training in Nuclear Material Accountancy and Control (NMA&C) in aspects relevant to the important tasks and responsibilities of safeguards and security practitioners at nuclear facilities.