Status of Implementation of IAEA Safeguards in the United States

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) applies safeguards in the United States under the Agreement between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America</i>, signed November 18, 1977 (the “U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreement”).[1] This agreement has two protocols, a “Reporting Protocol”, which was concluded at the same time as the agreement itself, and the Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the United States of America and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in the United States of America</i> (the “U.S. Additional Protocol”). The U.S. Additional Protocol, which was signed in 1998 and entered into force on January 6, 2009, amends the U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreement. Additionally, as a party to the Protocols to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), the United States concluded a safeguards agreement pursuant to that Treaty, as well as a small quantities protocol. This paper reviews the current status of the implementation of each of these agreements.[1] The U.S.-IAEA Safeguards Agreement is also sometimes known as the U.S. Voluntary Offer Agreement or VOA.