Volume 5, Number 2
October 2007

International Safeguards Technical Division

The International Safeguards Technical Division (ISD) completed a good year in July 2007, serving the international safeguards community through INMM involvement with the continuing important developments in international safeguards and nonproliferation. This report highlights recent ISD activities and planning for the future.

2007 48th Annual INMM Meeting, Tucson, Arizona, July 8-12
ISD activities at the 2007 INMM Annual Meeting were focused on commemorating the 50 th anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). A special session, 50 Years of IAEA, was held during the meeting and was chaired by INMM President Nancy Jo Nicholas. In the session, speakers from around the world presented highlights of articles from a special Summer 2007 issue of the Journal of Nuclear Materials Managementl (JNMM) dedicated to “Fifty Years of IAEA: Looking Back; Looking Ahead”, which was released at the Annual Meeting (see below). The ISD divisional meeting was also dedicated to the IAEA anniversary and featured an anniversary cake (photo below). And to complete the celebration, the IAEA was awarded the INMM Distinguished Service Award at the Awards Banquet.

The Annual INMM Meeting also included a wide-ranging set of sessions on international safeguards, including special sessions on Novel Approaches and Technologies for Safeguarding Centrifuge Enrichment Plants and on Reprocessing, and sessions on New Safeguards Approaches; Unattended and Remote Monitoring; Hold up—The Hidden Inventory; Technology for International and Domestic Safeguards; Environmental Sampling and Open Source; Imaging and Data Management; Regional Cooperation and Safeguards Implementation; and Workforce Management, Development and Training.

ISD Divisional meetings
In 2007 ISD held successful divisional meetings in conjunction with the European Safeguards R&D Association (ESARDA) meeting in May and the INMM Annual Meeting in July 2007.

2007 ESARDA Meeting, Aix en Provence, France . On May 21, ISD organized a meeting in the late afternoon of the day before the ESARDA meeting. The ISD meeting was chaired by Vice Chair Gotthard Stein and featured a presentation by Bruno Pellaud and discussion on the topic “Considerations on the red line between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons”. His presentation focused on the effectiveness of international proliferation prevention measures (forced collaboration vs. denial), the flurry of proposed multi-national fuel cycle models, and the challenges of breakout scenarios. The presentation was followed by a lively discussion with special attention to multilateral fuel cycle facilities and the role of the industry in multilateral nuclear facilities. Afterwards, some 40 meeting participants continued the discussion at a group dinner with regional specialties and wine.

2007 INMM Annual Meeting, Tucson, Arizona. On the afternoon of July 8, ISD held its annual technical division meeting during the INMM Annual Meeting. The focus of the Division meeting was a celebration and commemoration of the IAEA’s 50 th anniversary. Towards this end, ISD Co-Chair, Jim Larrimore, arranged to have meeting participants speak about the IAEA’s achievements and their and their countries’ experiences working with the IAEA. Kaoru Naito, Japan; Takeshi (Ted) Osabe, Japan; Young Myung Choi, Republic of Korea; Dieter Tillwick, South Africa; Bernd Richter, Germany; Stamatios Tsalas, Euratom; Jim Casterton, Canada; Jon Sanborn, U.S.; William O’Connor, U.S.; Ted Sherr, U.S; Nancy Jo Nicholas, INMM; Denny Mangan, U.S.; and Steve Kadner, U.S. (presented by Marius Stein) shared their reflections.

Some speakers focused on the contributions and activities of their governments to international safeguards. Others talked about the activities of their member state support programs while some speakers shared their personal reflections and experiences from working on IAEA issues. Some of the points made by speakers were that the IAEA is not just safeguards and that the 2005 Nobel Prize was awarded to the entire IAEA and its Director General Mohammed ElBaradei, the IAEA is central to two very important problems facing the world, climate change and the spread of nuclear weapons; traditional means of funding the IAEA’s work may not be adequate if the use of nuclear energy accelerates in the future; the good cooperation enjoyed with the IAEA through technical cooperation and SSAC activities is appreciated; and connecting people was key to the successful implementation of international safeguards.

During the break that followed these presentations, ISD had arranged to have a cake served to commemorate the IAEA’s anniversary. The cake was sponsored by Canberra-Albuquerque and was decorated with the IAEA’s 50th anniversary logo. In recognition that all INMM Technical Divisions have connections to the work of the IAEA, ISD invited all of the Division meetings participants to enjoy the cake.

IAEA representatives cut the cake and INMM President Nancy Jo Nicholas and ISD Chair Jim Larrimore made remarks, with approximately 200 annual meeting participants participating.

In the second part of the ISD meeting, IAEA representatives Jacques Baute (Director, Safeguards Information Management), Jill Cooley (Director, Safeguards Concepts and Planning) and Laura Rockwood (Section Head, Nonproliferation and Policy Making Organs, Office of Legal Affairs) were given an opportunity to speak. When the floor was opened up to the attendees, Mike Ehinger, Mark Schanfein and Myron Kratzer, U.S., recalled their involvement with the early days of the IAEA and the cultural value of working with the IAEA.

ISD publications and outreach

2007 Special Summer Issue of JNMM, “Fifty Years of IAEA: Looking Back; Looking Ahead”. I n honor of the 50th anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ISD organized a special issue of JNMM, the largest in its history. The issue starts with a foreword by the IAEA and includes 15 articles presenting views from around the world on the IAEA (from Argentina and Brazil, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, South Africa and the United States), technical reviews on main aspects of international safeguards (from Germany, the United States and the European Commission), and two articles on the legal perspective and on safeguards information from the IAEA. The special issue is a tribute to the IAEA, capturing the IAEA’s rich history and speculating on the possible issues of the future. (Copies can be obtained from INMM Headquarters.)

INMM international safeguards website tutorial. A comprehensive tutorial on international safeguards is posted on the INMM Web site.

Planning for 2008:
In 2008, ISD will co-sponsor the 8th International Conference on Facility Operator – Safeguards Interface on March 30 – April 4 in Portland, OR, and plans to hold ISD meetings at the ESARDA annual meeting in Luxembourg in May and the INMM Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN, in July.

2008 INMM/ESARDA Workshop in Japan. INMM, through its International Safeguards Division and the Japan INMM Chapter, and ESARDA have set the dates and location for the sixth joint INMM/ESARDA workshop. The workshop will be held in Tokyo, Japan on October 6-9, 2008. The workshop topic is “Meeting Safeguards challenges in an Expanding Nuclear World”, with the main themes: Safeguards implementation and State evaluation, Technical progress – the safeguards toolbox, Safeguards and nonproliferation policy and institutional issues, and Academic and applied safeguards and nonproliferation programs in Asia, Europe and the U.S.

We hope that members of the Institute and the international safeguards community will have the opportunity to participate in INMM meetings and ISD activities in the coming year.

Jim Larrimore, Chair, INMM ISD; Gotthard Stein, Vice Chair, INMM ISD; George Baldwin, Susan Pepper, Mark Schanfein, Marius Stein and Michael Whitaker, ISD Management Team