Research and development for international safeguards

IAEA nuclear material safeguards are essentially a technical means of verifying the fulfillment of political obligations undertaken by States in concluding international agreements relating to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Their successful implementation depends heavily on, inter alia, the development of sound concepts and approaches and good methods and techniques for the verification of nuclear material in all its peaceful applications. The IAEA is strongly supported by several Member States in its effort to further improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its safeguards system. This paper reviews the present status of IAEA safeguards concepts and safeguards technologies, together with recent developments and current work in progress. (author)