Year
1999
Abstract
The U.S. has pursued bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements with other countries since 1954. Beginning in the 1980’s, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) established bilateral agreements which focus exclusively on nuclear materials safeguards. It was evident that in order to address increasingly stringent international safeguards criteria expanded technical cooperation was needed. New safeguards challenges surfaced with the break-up of the Former Soviet Union in 1990 and the discovery in 1991 of Iraq’s clandestine activities. Safeguards-specific cooperation agreements have now become the primary mechanism for research and development in safeguards technologies. This paper examines the history, achievements, and future direction of DOE bilateral safeguards agreements. Examples of technical achievements which help to ensure effectiveness of safeguards measures while reducing costs for the IAEA and facility operators include: l Installation of a remote monitoring system at the Embalse Nuclear Power Plant in Argentina, has made it possible to monitor the entire spent fuel transfer process more efficiently l Joint DOE/Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation tasks at nuclear facilities in Japan have enabled implementation of continuous unattended nondestructive analysis and remote monitoring. Benefits of these agreements include: development of facility-specific safeguards technologies applicable to other facilities; leveraging of scarce resources; exchange of technical and scientific expertise; fostering of a climate of international trust, mutual professional respect, and programmatic transparency.