Institutionalizing Safeguards by Design: Opportunities and Challenges for Newcomer
Countries

With the expansion and evolving of Nuclear Power Plant technologies to more newcomer countries comes further burden on international safeguards. The need for intrinsic and extrinsic measure for the timely detection objective of safeguards. However, for newcomer countries, the burden is making up for the aspects of the international safeguards obligations of design not covered by the intrinsic design of the technology. When this is taken into account early in the design phase the nuclear power plant deployment, reduces the burden of time and cost on the operations, the SRA, and the IAEA. However, without the consideration of safeguards implication early in the design of the facility, safeguards solutions will need to be retrofitted into the design which will impact cost, time and possibly on security and safety. For newcomer countries, making it a requirement for the construction of nuclear facilities will enable the early considerations however, with this also come some challenges in its implementation some of which have been identified as communication, monetary implications as well as human resources. However, with these challenges there is also the opportunity of making provision for safeguards without adversely impacting on safety and security as this can be holistically considered. Using Ghana as a reference newcomer country, some proposals for possible solutions for the institutionalisation of safeguards by design by newcomer countries to promote the implementation of international safeguards for the deterrence and/or detection of proliferation of nuclear weapons.