How to Safeguard Uranium in the Cradle and in the Grave?

The front-end and the back-end of the fuel cycle are challenging for the IAEA safeguards since the nuclear materials are inaccessible in the geological media and thus not verifiable by the inspectors. The current IAEA safeguards objectives cover in addition to the accountancy verification, the detection of possible misuse of materials and activities. Therefore, the IAEA is assessing States and their nuclear capabilities, e.g., using the IAEA physical model and Acquisition Path Analysis. Whereas the national approach is based on multi-authority governance, making social and environmental permitting essential. Typically, the miningoriented applicant or operator is not familiar with nuclear framework including international safeguards, therefore communication and cooperation, i.e., Safeguards-by-Design is needed between all the stakeholders. The possible diversion scenarios have been addressed be the IAEA within the cooperation of MSSPs. At the front-end, the capability to access the uranium resources depends on the mining capabilities in the country, the main focus must be on the assessment of the motivation and financing. Uranium is present almost everywhere in the lithosphere, so a clandestine uranium extraction from multi-metallic ores is challenging to be detected. Whereas, in the back-end the motivation and financing to access hazardous waste is minimal at a licensed depository, and the detectability is more obvious. However, at both cases the responsibility for physical protection, non-proliferation and peaceful use of uranium is a national obligation that requires institutional cooperation and national control of nuclear-related activities. The construction and licensing of facilities in the front-end and the back-end of the fuel cycle takes years. However, during the development period safeguards measures are to be applied to exclude undeclared activities already during the pre-operational phases. In the presentation, experiences from the preparation for the commercial and licensed uranium extraction and disposal in Finland will be discussed.