NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DETECTION OF UNDECLARED NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES, MATERIALS AND FACILITIES: NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE INDICATORS AND SIGNATURES AND TECHNOLOGY GAP ANALYSIS

摘要

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Novel Technologies Project is providingaccess to a wider range of methods and instruments, as well as establishing a systematicmechanism to analyse gaps in the inspectorate’s technical support capabilities. The project alsotargets emerging and future inspectorate needs in the areas of verification and the detection ofundeclared nuclear activities, materials, and facilities, providing an effective pathway totechnologies in support of safeguards implementation.The identification of safeguards-useful nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) indicators and signatures (I&S)is a fundamental sub-task within the Project. It interfaces with other IAEA efforts currentlyunderway to develop future safeguards approaches through undertaking an in-depth review ofNFC processes. Primarily, the sub-task aims to identify unique and safeguards-useful“indicators”, which identify the presence of a particular process, and “signatures”, whichemanate from that process when it is in operation. The matching of safeguards needs todetection tool capabilities facilitates the identification of gaps where no current method orinstrument exists. The Project has already identified several promising technologies based onatmospheric gas sampling and analysis, laser spectrometry and optically stimulatedluminescence. Instruments based on these technologies are presently being developed throughsupport programme tasks with Member States.This paper describes the method that has been devised within the Project to identify safeguardsusefulNFC I&S and to determine how the sub-task interfaces with other IAEA efforts toestablish emerging safeguards approaches. It also describes the secure databases and analyticaltools created for archiving and analysing I&S information and the gap analysis methodology foridentifying appropriate detection technologies. To demonstrate that methodology, the paperincludes an example of how I&S are identified, utilizing one part of a generic gas centrifugeenrichment process.