Nuclear Material Accountancy Network Analysis at Scale

Nuclear Material Accountancy (NMA) is a key pillar of the Safeguards system, and its use in Material Balance Evaluations (MBE) is essential to the detection of diversion of nuclear material. In addition to MBE, NMA data can be used for network analysis in order to identify potentially declarable activity. Network analysis of NMA data has resulted in inquiries to some States pursuant to Article 4.d of the Additional Protocol, and has resulted in Complementary Access (CA) visits to locations under Article 5.c of the Additional Protocol. In some cases, this has led the Safeguards department and the applicable States to identify new Locations Outside Facilities (LOFs) that are to be declared under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements, and in other cases, identify new sites that are declarable under the Additional Protocol. NMA Explorer is a new tool and its associated workflows enable the Department of Safeguards to perform network analysis of NMA data at scale. (author)