The Evolution of the Safeguards Implementation in Japan up to RRP/J-MOX

Japan has introduced INFCIRC 153 type safeguards since December 1977, and also introduced national safeguards system for ensuring the peaceful use of the nuclear materials and nuclear facilities. In order to achieve IAEA’s safeguards inspection goal effective and efficiently to Japan’s complex nuclear fuel cycle facilities, a number of efforts and challenges have been made for devolvement safeguards approach, verification equipment and material accounting techniques to the complex nuclear fuel cycle facilities. This paper describes key efforts and challenges for the evolution of the safeguards implementation in the Japan, especially as follows; - Provision of independent verification accommodation with the state system. - Establishment of the safeguards approach for the uranium enrichment plant taking into consideration with sensitive information protection. - To learn IAEA safeguards criteria in order to avoid no inspection goal attainment - Improvement of technical verification tool for flesh fuel assembly and spent fuel - Establishment and implementation of joint use of the inspection equipment. - Establishment of the safeguards approach with verification tools for difficult to access areas - Development of the safeguards for a large reprocessing plant through the international forum of the Large Scale Reprocessing Plant Safeguards(LASCAR) - Lessons and leaned importance of the waste and hold-up measurement - Development of the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant (RRP) Safeguards System especially automatic verification and process monitoring system along the nuclear material flows including inspection use of the operator’s equipment by the signal split. - Introduction of the integrated safeguards(IS) approach stepwise from the LWRs and research reactors, and to expand the IS approach including RRP - Development of the J-MOX safeguards system