Fifty Years of Safeguards under the EURATOM Treaty. A Regulatory Review

March 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of one of the founding treaties of the European Community. The EURATOM Treaty has its origins at a time when the stability of energy supplies in Europe was a major concern. Recently, much debate has centred on the possible reform or repeal of some parts of the treaty, given that its original aim was to promote and oversee the development of nuclear energy in Europe. This debate has focused attention on the future contribution of nuclear power to increasing energy demands in an enlarged Europe. However, despite these issues there is near universal agreement that the EURATOM Treaty has played a vital role in the protection of European citizens through the controls required for nuclear materials. Chapter 7 of the treaty (Safeguards) confers wide regulatory powers to the European Commission to ensure that civil nuclear materials are not diverted from their intended use as declared by the operators. This paper describes the early period of operation of the safeguards inspectorate, and gives statistics on the numbers and types of inspections carried out by the EURATOM inspectors, and discusses from an operational point of view the value of inspection activities. Further, a critical appraisal of Articles 77-85 within Chapter 7 is made. The paper also considers those safeguards requirements that are important to strengthen, in order to maintain a strong regulatory system to oversee future challenges, particularly in the context of increasing decommissioning activities within Europe. It is noteworthy that fifty-years after the founding of the treaty, many of the concerns about security of energy supply have re-emerged. It is a measure of the vision and forward thinking of its founders that the treaty has successfully overseen the safe and secure development of nuclear power in Europe (which currently provides a third of its electricity needs) and despite the many changes and developments that have occurred, that the objectives concerning safeguarding nuclear materials have been met as intended. The controls envisaged at that time remain fully relevant today