Can Commercial-Scale Uranium Enrichment Plants be Safeguarded?

Most Member States of the IAEA consider that Article IV, Section 1 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons implies the inclusion of uranium enrichment as an “inalienable right.” The verification that uranium enrichment is exclusively for peaceful purposes is very difficult, but required under Article III, Section 1, which stipulates that “Each Non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes to accept safeguards… for the exclusive purpose of verification of the fulfillment of its obligations under the Treaty with a view to preventing diversion of nuclear energy from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons…” With modified versions of the restrictions and monitoring and verification procedures of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed in July 2015, it may be possible for all States to enrich uranium at a commercial scale, while more fully meeting their obligations under the NPT.