RESILIENCE IN SAFEGUARDS – MITIGATING CHALLENGES IN PANDEMIC
SITUATIONS, DIFFICULT-TO-ACCESS AREAS AND PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced emergency directives and strict public health measures during 2020-2022 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was essential, therefore, for the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) to promptly accommodate the imposed government measures while maintaining its nuclear regulatory oversight functions in the fields of safeguards, safety and security, and to ensure the UAE was able to continue meeting its international safeguards obligations to the highest standards. This paper presents FANR’s business continuity plans and its effective and efficient approach to managing the challenges encountered during the pandemic, how the challenges were overcome, the experiences gained and the lessons learned. The challenges encountered during the pandemic included maintaining communications with licensees, continuing to provide safeguards information to the IAEA, maintaining access to the UAE for IAEA safeguards inspectors, and continuing to execute a domestic nuclear inspection programme to ensure the peaceful, safe and secure conduct of regulated nuclear activities across the country, including oversight of the operation and construction of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant. The success of FANR’s pandemic response was based around a well-established business continuity plan and its leadership’s readiness to embrace nuanced changes to its regulatory approaches. A key element of the response included a modern and well managed IT infrastructure and information systems, and readiness to provide secure access to the infrastructure from outside of FANR HQ. The response also relied on excellent cooperation with the national authorities responsible for public health and border controls. Ultimately, FANR’s well-laid plans, together with its agile and innovative approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulted in uninterrupted nuclear regulatory oversight. Furthermore, the UAE won praise from the IAEA department of safeguards for establishing arrangements to maximize the efficiency of IAEA inspector’s time in the UAE, for minimizing delays during the IAEA’s verification activities, and for continuing to honor the country’s nuclear non-proliferation obligations.