International Workshops to Foster Implementation of the IAEA Additional Protocol

A country’s adherence to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Additional Protocol is an important statement to the world of that country’s commitment to nuclear nonproliferation. Without the Additional Protocol (AP) it is possible, as demonstrated in Iraq, for a country party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to clandestinely work toward nuclear weapons and be undetected by the IAEA. This is because classical safeguards under the NPT are directed at diversion of nuclear material from declared activities. But a country may instead build undeclared activities to produce weapons-grade nuclear material. The AP is directed at detecting those undeclared activities. As of May 2003, 73 countries had signed the AP, but only 35 have entered into force. To further adherence to the AP, the IAEA has held regional, high-level seminars in Japan, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Peru, Romania, and Malaysia to explain AP provisions. To supplement these policy-level seminars, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has undertaken to develop a set of modules of technical competencies required to implement the AP. The intent is to work closely with the IAEA by providing these technical competencies to countries as well as to complement the IAEA’s regional seminars and other outreach efforts. This papermore » briefly describes the technical competency modules.« less