Revealing facts through science for nuclear verification

Keeping track of the facts is an important part of nuclear verification. Receiving hundreds of samples each year, staff at the IAEA's safeguards laboratories verify data through spot checks and analysis of the uranium and plutonium content of nuclear material samples. The laboratory scientists analyse environmental swipe samples and samples of nuclear material from various points of the nuclear fuel cycle collected by safeguards inspectors during physical inspections of nuclear facilities. The samples are screened, processed, distributed to laboratories in the IAEA network of laboratories, and analysed and archived by scientists at the IAEA's laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria