Some Agency contributions to the development of instrumental techniques in safeguards

Recent Agency experience in the development and application of non-destructive analytical techniques and instrumental surveillance for international nuclear material safeguards is described. The reported safeguards techniques are intended for field use by inspectors and the results were obtained under field conditions in different countries. The results of the following projects are briefly reported: uranium enrichment measurements of UF6 in storage cylinders; 235U content measurements of MTR core plates; plutonium content and isotopic abundance measurements of PuO2 in storage cylinders and small samples; plutonium content measurements in solid waste, ash and rinse solutions; measurements of irradiated MTR fuel element burnup and integrity; and measurements of the LWR fuel assemblies burnup, cooling time and plutonium accumulation. An overall view of experience in the development and application of several different systems of electro-optical surveillance equipment is also presented. For more details, references are made to the corresponding IAEA Safeguards Technical Reports. (author)