VIENNA CENTRE FOR DISARMAMENT AND NON-PROLIFERATION (VCDNP)

APLN Senior Associate Fellow John Carlson co-authors a paper with Valeri Bytchkov on how the development of IAEA safeguards has been influenced by various concepts that have been applied at different times. They also explore how the resulting safeguards approaches and practices have influenced the ongoing safeguards culture.

This paper discusses the role of conceptualisation in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards in the formation of safeguards culture. The object of this study is the IAEA safeguards system. This system was created in the mid-1960s on the basis of the IAEA Statute. In the 1970s the safeguards system was adapted for the purposes of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The safeguards system was strengthened during the post-1991 period, and its evolution remains ongoing.

The paper comprises two parts: a main part and an Annex. The main part contains major outcomes of the study: the three implementation concepts inherent in the safeguards system, the mechanism of safeguards culture formation, and the evolution of safeguards terms and notions. The Annex contains five parts, each describing an important milestone in the evolution of the IAEA safeguards system: (1) Conceptual development of the IAEA safeguards system in the pre-NPT period; (2) Adaptation of the IAEA safeguards system for the NPT; (3) Further development of the safeguards system; (4) Introduction of the additional protocol and development of the concept of integrated safeguards; and (5) Development of the State-level concept.

The full paper can be accessed at the VCDNP website here.

Image: iStock/Дмитрий Ларичев