Spent Fuel in Geological Repositories - Safeguards Aspects.

Developing safeguards strategies for spent fiel disposal in geologic repositories is a new frontier of nuclear material management. In order to appraise fully the non-proliferation issues, the Agency has in recent years accelerated its endeavour to develop a safeguards policy as well as technology. Safeguards for spent t%eldisposal in geological repositories have to be continued even after the repository has been back-filled and sealed. The effective application of safeguards must assure an unbroken continuity of knowledge that the nuclear material in the repository has not been diverted for an unknown purpose. The spent fuel disposed in a geological repository will eventually have a higher and long-term proliferation risk. The IAEA should, therefore, define an appropriate safeguards policy and measures well ahead of time so that the State, designer and operator can integrate these requirements while the repository is still in the design phase. The prescribed measure should meet the safeguards objectives effectively and efficiently. When, and if, anomalies are detected the IAEA should be able to determine whether the anomalies are due to an innocent cause or whether suspicion is warranted. During the past years the Agency has organized Advisory Group and Consultants’ Meetings to obtain advise from Member States on the application of effective safeguards for the final disposal of spent fuel in geological repositories. Following recommendations from these meetings and taking into account the Agency’s commitment to the application of appropriate safeguards, a policy paper, currently under discussion, has been formulated. The IAEA has, in parallel, launched a programme for Safeguards for Final Disposal of Spent Fuel in Geological Repositories (SAGOR). The purpose of SAGOR is to pursue the technological development required to implement safeguards, The Agency is planning to convene another Advisory Group Meeting in November 1997 in its endeavour to devise appropriate safeguards measures for the final disposal of spent fuel.