Safeguards Export-Import Training: Adapting to Changes in the Department of Safeguards Over 6 Years of Experience

Safeguards relevant information encompasses information available to the Agency in exercising its rights and fulfilling its obligations under relevant safeguards agreement(s). It includes information relating to nuclear or nuclear related trade like international transfers of nuclear material, or export (or import upon request by the Agency) of specified equipment described in annex 2 of the Additional Protocol. It may also include information provided by States on a voluntary basis. In 2005, the General Conference (see GC(49)/RES/13) encouraged the provision of information on procurement inquiries, export denials and other nuclear related information. Objectively and independently assessing this information and combining it with other Safeguards data and knowledge requires relevant expertise and well defined processes.. Since 2008, the bi-annual Export-Import (EXIM) training workshop, jointly run by the Safeguards training section, the Safeguards Information Management Division and the U.S. Department of Energy, enables Safeguards staff to develop competencies required for collecting, processing and drawing objective conclusions in this area. Over the years, more than 150 Safeguards staff have been exposed to technical information on relevant non-nuclear material and equipment, trade data from different origins, analytical processes, and exercises to use this knowledge in realistic safeguards work scenarios. The EXIM training has also been an opportunity to witness and to contribute to forging safeguards practices for trade analysis and inserting them in the verification process. The paper describes the background and purpose of the EXIM training, how it helped Safeguards to independently collect and analyses relevant trade information to fulfill its obligations, and the lessons learned from 6 years of training experience, observing how the Department of Safeguards develops and implements structured processes to collect, process and evaluate safeguards relevant information in the area of nuclear and nuclear related trade in order to establish findings and draw safeguards conclusions.

CHATELUS Renaud;  HEINE Peter;  HUESCHBECK Elena;  SCHOT Paul;  CRETE Jean Maurice; 

2015-01-23

IAEA

JRC90370

http://www.iaea.org/safeguards/symposium/2014/home/eproceedings/sg2014_eproceedings_online.pdf,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC90370,