Current Status of Environmental Sampling for IAEA Safeguards

Approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors, use of environmental sampling as a new safeguards strengthening measure began in 1996 with the initial focus on swipe sampling inside enrichment plants and installations with hot cells. After one and a half years of implementation, the Agency’s environmental sampling programme is well underway. Samples to provide a baseline environmental signature for a facility have been collected at more than 45 facilities under safeguards. Samples are collected by trained inspectors using standardized sampling kits and approved sampling protocols according to facility-specific sampling plans. All samples collected at the facilities are sent to the IAEA’s Clean Laboratory at Seibersdorf for screening measurements and distribution to the IAEA’s Network of Analytical Laboratories (NWAL). The NWAL is being expanded to include laboratories with special capabilities in very low-level isotopic and radiometric measurements. By June 1997, more than 650 swipe samples from baseline sampling activities have been distributed to network laboratories for analysis. Measurement results are transmitted to the Agency and entered into a data base prior to evaluation using dedicated software. This paper reports on the status of the Agency’s environmental sampling programme.