INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR PHYSICAL PROTECTION REVISING INFCIRC/225

During the 1970s concern over potential sub-national threats to civil nuclear activities led the IAEA to convene several meetings of experts to formulate recommendations for adequate physical protection. This activity culminated in the 1978 publication of \"The Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials\" as INFCIRC/225/Rev. 1, which became the accepted international standard. It was incorporated in national regulations and in nuclear supply and bilateral cooperation agreements, and it formed the basis for the levels of physical protection mandated by the convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials. In the ensuing decade INFCIRC/225/Rev. 1 served the international community well, but a number of developments, in our understanding of the threat, in the technology available to security system designers, and in the industry to be protected, led to a widespread view that the time for a review had come. The U.S. played a leading role in that review. This paper will describe the process leading to the Technical Committee Meeting on Physical Protection convened by the Director General in the spring of 1989, provide an overview of the issues considered by that group, and identify the areas in which the Committee modified the international guidelines, now reflected in INFCIRC/225/rev. 2 published by the IAEA in December 1989.