Destructive Analysis: Effective Analytical Support to Nuclear Safeguards and Non-Proliferation

Abstract

Nuclear safeguards are measures to verify that states comply with their international obligations (Non-Proliferation Treaty and Euratom Treaty) to refrain from using nuclear materials for the development of nuclear weapons, but using it solely in the peaceful civil nuclear fuel cycle... Destructive Analyses (DA) of nuclear material and of environmental samples collected inside and in the vicinity of nuclear facilities are a key strategy among other complementary measures applied in nuclear material accountancy, control and verification. A great variety of analytical methods is used in order obtain the desired information from a given sample. The chosen method must be applicable to meet the requirements pre-defined by nuclear safeguards. Analytical methods for DA of bulk samples of nuclear material as well as for the assay of single particles found on swipe samples are presented in this paper. Furthermore the drawbacks and benefits of DA for nuclear safeguard purposes are discussed along with considerations concerning the choice of the appropriate analytical method, including the use of quality control tools.