NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE-RELATED RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL:
AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVES

The combination of a comprehensive safeguards agreement (CSA) and an additional protocol (AP) equips the IAEA with the tools to develop a complete picture of a state’s nuclear activities, ensuring a high standard of verification and providing confidence to the international community that nonproliferation commitments are being honoured. State regulatory authorities are required to declare nuclear fuel cycle-related research and development (NFC R&D) activities under articles 2.a.(i), 2.a.(x) and 2.b.(i) of the AP. This presents challenges because NFC R&D may not involve nuclear material, nuclear facilities, or even regulated equipment. How can an SRA in a state with a large and diverse research community identify and declare all NFC R&D activities? Drawing on Australia’s 25 years of experience in implementing the AP, this paper will describe the approach taken by the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO) to declaring NFC R&D activities in Australia, including engagement with universities and research institutions, notification arrangements with relevant government agencies, and open source searches. By performing broad searches annually, using a spreadsheet to track patterns in institutions’ publications and patents, and asking targeted questions of researchers, a state regulatory authority can build up a complete picture of existing NFC R&D activities and identify new NFC R&D activities as they emerge. In doing so, the state regulatory authority must overcome obstacles to communication with a diverse research community, including managing differences in the use of terminology. Maintaining a comprehensive picture of NFC R&D across the public and private sectors also has flow-on benefits for domestic regulation, providing an avenue to raise awareness among universities, research institutions and private companies about the requirement to apply for permits, if they wish to acquire nuclear material or export controlled goods as their research progresses.