Annual report 1997-1998

The report covers the operations of the Australian Safeguards Office (ASO) and the Chemical Weapons Convention Office (CWCO) for the year ended June 1998. Positive developments during the year included conclusion of the first Additional Protocol for the strengthening of IAEA safeguards, and signature by the overwhelming majority of States of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In the further development of the safeguards system, a major theme is 'integration', the rationalisation of classical safeguards with the new safeguards strengthening measures. As the IAEA's capability to provide assurance of the absence of undeclared nuclear activities increases, assurance of non-diversion will become less critical, at least for the majority of nuclear materials in civil programs, which require further processing - reprocessing or further enrichment - before they can be weapons-useable. During the year the Government announced plans to establish the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), to be formed through combining the Nuclear Safety Bureau and the Australian Radiation Laboratory. ARPANSA is to be responsible for regulating radiation and nuclear safety aspects of Commonwealth activities and places, and promoting national uniformity on radiation matters. Legislation for ARPANSA was introduced in April 1998, and remains before Parliament at the time of writing this Report. By 29 April 1998 108 States were States Parties of CWC, including the possessors of the two largest chemical weapon stockpiles (Russia and the United States), and by 30 June 1998 this had risen to 112. During the year the international organisation responsible for implementing the Convention, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), conducted approximately 200 routine inspections across the world, including two routine inspections in Australia. These latter inspections were facilitated by CWCO, which acted as an intermediary between inspectors and site representatives, to ensure Australia's CWC obligations were met, while at the same time protecting the rights of the inspected facilities. Both inspections ran smoothly and inspectors confirmed full compliance with Convention obligations