IAEA 47th General Conference : Scientific Forum : Safeguards

Reports from the Scientific Forum

Instruments used to detect uranium samples

New Breed of Nuclear Safeguards "Workhorses"
Advances in Safeguards Technology, Verification Reviewed at Final Scientific Forum Session

Gone are the days when the main workhorse for surveillance of nuclear material was a twin camera system designed in the 1970s. New ones have been bred and sent to the field. Yet, given the stakes, the challenge of how to stay technologically "current" remains, as experts made clear at the IAEA's final session of the 2003 Scientific Forum.

Satellite imagery and environmental sampling are now standard tools in the Agency's inspection kit to detect any possible undeclared nuclear material and activities.

Tools of Detection

Environmental sampling has become a powerful tool of detection, Diane Fisher of the IAEA Department of Safeguards, told the Forum. First used in 1996, swipe samples taken from inside nuclear facilities offer a wealth of information and build confidence about the accuracy of a State's declared nuclear activities. "Environmental sampling helps us to pose questions that we need to have answered," Ms. Fisher said.

The Agency and its network of analytical laboratories throughout the world analyse about 300 to 400 samples per year. It takes time, however, to do the job right. The highly secure process of analysing samples with advanced, sophisticated tools can take months rather than weeks. The challenge now is to reduce the turnaround time, Ms. Fisher said.

In addition to environmental sampling, other important measures of the Agency's strengthened safeguards include:

Open source information such as professional journals, the Internet, commercial satellite imagery and the media;
Use of equipment capable of operating unattended, with the ability to remotely transmit the safeguards data;
The "eyes and ears" of Agency inspectors through shortnotice/unannounced inspections; and
Expanded Agency access to physical locations.

Future Needs

The Forum heard the focus of future safeguards equipment needs is on:

Developing more sensitive devices that can detect nuclear material; and
Systems that can monitor environmental parameters and detect indicators related to the presence of undeclared facilities and activities.

In his opening address to the Scientific Forum, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, said that in a world in which technology is constantly evolving, the challenge for the Agency is to be able to use and maintain state-of-the art equipment, while being self- sufficient against a backdrop of budget constraints.

Other presentations were made by Mr. Malcolm Nicholas of the IAEA's Safeguards Department, who covered the importance of open source information and satellite imagery; Mr. Massimo Aparo, IAEA Safeguards Department; Ms. Therese Renis, IAEA Safeguards Department; and Mr. K, Naito of the Nuclear Material Control Centre, Japan, who was also the session moderator.

Reports from the Scientific Forum

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