IAEA Technical Cooperation & the NPT?
Si vis pacem para pacem - If you want peace prepare for peace.
Over the years, the Agency's technical cooperation programme has been very sensitive to the changing needs and interests of developing countries. For example, over the past decade there has been a continuous decrease in requests in areas of nuclear power; on the other hand there has been an increase in areas of human health, nuclear safety, nuclear security, environmental protection, physical protection of radiation sources and management of radioactive waste. Sustained efforts in developing countries over the past ten years have been directed at improving safety when it comes to nuclear facilities and radiation sources, and strengthening the legal infrastructure and emergency preparedness.
The IAEA's Department of Technical Cooperation is continuously seeking ways and means to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme, for example, by creating partnerships with donor organizations to multiply the impact of its projects. This effort was duly commended in the final document of the 2000 NPT Review Conference.
Risks & Rewards
Mechanisms are in place to ensure that the Agency's technical cooperation activities are not diverted or used for non-peaceful uses.
It should not be forgotten that in 1971, just after the NPT entered into force, the IAEA Board of Governors approved a standard agreement regulating the conditions for the provision of technical assistance. This agreement was revisited in the late 1970s and, after much discussion by the Board, a revised text was approved in February 1979 as the "Revised Guiding Principles and General Operating Rules to Govern the Provision of Technical Assistance by the Agency" (INFCIRC/267). These guiding principles are applicable "to any technical assistance provided by the Agency irrespective of the funds or gifts involved.".
The document contains, in the Annex, the provisions established by the Board in September 1977 for the application of safeguards in relation to granting of technical assistance. This revised text (which became known as the Revised Supplementary Agreement, RSA), requires that Member States requesting assistance should, first, conclude an RSA with the IAEA. This agreement is the country's statement that all activities resulting from the assistance are solely for peaceful purposes and that facilities involved are subject to safeguards. The agreement stipulates that technical cooperation projects to be approved by the Board are subject, if needed, to the safeguards provisions.
Through the IAEA Technical Cooperation Programme among other channels, the world's civil research reactors using high-enriched uranium are being converted to use fuel that poses lower proliferation concerns.
The IAEA Departments of Safeguards and Technical Cooperation work together to oversee the application of this provision. Their experts take part in a review process that monitors and screens any possibility of misuse of nuclear technologies from the time the project is requested to the stage of final implementation. Based on a thorough review of existing and upcoming IAEA projects, for example, the Deputy Director for Technical Cooperation was able to assure the Board in November 2004 that the 2005-2006 Technical Cooperation Programme "contains no elements of proliferation concerns" relevant to sensitive technologies as specified in the principles and rules governing IAEA technical assistance.
In conclusion, we can say that the IAEA's activities related to Article IV of the NPT cover a wide range; they are diverse in scope yet focused on priority needs of countries. These activities continue to enjoy interest and support from all countries, whatever their involvement in the Agency's Technical Cooperation Programme.
An effective Agency safeguards system remains the cornerstone of a nuclear non-proliferation regime aimed at stemming the spread of nuclear weapons and moving towards disarmament. At the same time, an effective technical cooperation programme is the complement to this cornerstone, and it needs to be preserved and strengthened to keep the balance foreseen by the NPT. This programme is fundamental and unique to the IAEA in that it seeks to extend the benefits of nuclear technology to all. It is desirable that, at the 2005 NPT Review Conference, the Parties renew their commitment towards these twin and mutually reinforcing goals and fulfill them in the coming years.
Ana Maria Cetto is IAEA Deputy Director and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation. She was named Mexico's Woman of the Year in 2003. Paulo Barretto is a former Director in the Department who among other duties participated in several NPT Review Conferences. He worked at the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission and is now posted with the UN in New York. E-mails: A.M.Cetto@iaea.org; Barrettop@un.org.
- Related Links
- IAEA Technical Cooperation
- In Focus: IAEA & the NPT
- CONTENTS
- The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 2005
- What next for the NPT?
- The World's Non-Proliferation Regime in Time
- Nuclear Law & Disorder
- Farewell to Arms
- Reframing the Debate Against Nuclear Weapons
- The IAEA & the NPT
- Upgrading Nuclear Safeguards in Kazakhstan
- IAEA Technical Cooperation & the NPT
- Nuclear Export Controls
- The Right Moves for Nuclear & Global Security
- A Race We Can Win
- Nuclear Fuel Cycle
- GTRI Moves Ahead
- Obstacles & Opportunities
- Nuclear Technology & the Developing World
- Fast Forward for the United Nations
- End the Nuclear Threat
- How We Think About Peace & Security
- Rethinking a Dangerous Game of Chance
- Shared Pledge, Shared Vision
- Text & Members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
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