SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE STREAMLINING OF SAFEGUARDS APPLICATIONS FOR THE LEU FUEL CYCLE

The international safeguards regime is currently undergoing a dramatic change with the development of a new Strengthened Safeguards System (SSS). An important consideration under this new regime is the enhancement of the efficiency and effectiveness of safeguards implementation in the face of an increasing a number of nuclear facilities and a growing nuclear materials inventory. This system is intended to provide assurance to the Agency regarding the absence of undeclared facilities and/or undeclared activities which would contribute to the risk of nuclear proliferation while at the same time taking into account Agency budget constraints by improving the efficiency of safeguards. This paper describes a current accountancy oriented safeguards regime. It considers the possibility of streamlining the application of safeguards by means of an integration of short notice inspections, borrowing inspections and incorporates an approach involving the safeguards of the fuel in the receiving facility (nuclear reactors) into the concept. At the same time it introduces such new safeguards technology and concepts as remote monitoring. It further describes the possibility of the improvement of the overall safeguards implementation efficiency with the introduction of qualitative measures and touches on a quality audit function for safeguards inspections.