The conclusion of programme 93+2. A status report on strengthened and more efficient safeguards

Since the end of the cold war a series of events have changed the circumstances and requirements of the safeguards system. The discovery of a clandestine nuclear weapons programme in Iraq, the continuing difficulty in verifying the initial report of the DPRK upon entry into force of their safeguards agreement and the decision of the South African Government to give up its nuclear weapons programme and joint the NPT have all played a role in an ambitious effort by IAEA Member States and the Secretariat to strengthen the safeguards system. A major milestone in this effort was reached in May of this year when the Agency's Board of Governors approved a model Protocol Additional to Safeguards Agreements. The Additional Protocol was negotiated by an open-ended committee of the Board involving some 70 Member States. The IAEA is now beginning the process of negotiating the Protocol Additional to Safeguards Agreement, State-by-State. It will provide the IAEA with much broader rights of access to information about all State activities related to the use of nuclear material and greatly expanded physical access for IAEA inspectors to verify this information. This action augments recent Board decisions that have strengthened the safeguards regime within the legal authority provided by existing agreements. The purpose of this paper is to review the technical objective and rationale for strengthened, more efficient safeguards and to describe progress toward that objective. (author)