International Safeguards: Re-thinking the Approach

The IAEA has now 200 Inspectors or so, and Euratom a similar number. People in Vienna are talking about increases of this staff, in the range of a possible doubling in the five years to come, although even an immediate restart of the expansion of nuclear industry, would not materialise significantly within this period. This means that keeping the same safeguarding approach would probably lead to another doubling of such staff in the ten following years, which is completely unrealistic. Such a staff is out of proportion u/ith those of national inspectorates in other fields. The .paper will analyse the basic irrealistic dogma which have hi'ndered the progress of international safeguards, and recall the suggestions made since ten years to improve them.