The role of satellites and remote data transmission in a future safeguards regime

The paper proposes an improvement in the effectiveness of the IAEA's safeguards system to detect undeclared nuclear activities of a State party to the NPT. In order to exercise the right to conduct 'special inspections' the IAEA needs reliable and independent information on undeclared activities in a State derived from preferably open sources. It is suggested that the IAEA should be provided with a tool enabling it independently to generate the necessary information. In this connection, the possibility of monitoring States parties to the NPT by satellites equipped with suitable sensors is discussed. It should be emphasized that the implementation of special inspections should not lead to a reduction in the traditional safeguards activities of the IAEA in declared facilities. This aspect is already being taken into account insofar as the current technical developments of safeguards essentially aim at improving efficiency without a loss in effectiveness. Efficiency is increased, for example, by using integrated safeguards systems capable of collecting automatically and non-intrusively safeguards data over a prolonged period, which can then be extracted from the system by inspectors at a later date. A more extensive approach is the transmission of data on safeguards via the integrated services digital network (ISDN) or using satellite communication channels. 9 refs