THE ROLE OF THE STATE SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTING FOR AND CONTROL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS (SSAC) UNDER THE STATE-LEVEL CONCEPT: THE SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

摘要

South Africa’s recent nuclear energy policy and the integrated resource plan for electricityoutlines the government plans for expanding the nuclear field in the country. It is a known factthat the country is rich in uranium-bearing gold deposits. For the purposes of mineralbeneficiation and self-sustainability, it is not surprising that the country is now consideringincreasing the current nuclear energy supply with 9,6GW by 2030. The same expansion andnuclear interest is seen in many other developing countries. This development poses differentchallenges for the non-proliferation regime from different situations from across the globeranging from alleged proliferation to illicit trafficking. The state level concept is an importantstep in the sense that it will assist the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to effectivelyimplement safeguards and strengthen the safeguards system and prioritise their efforts with thenew developments. Although an important step, the IAEA has to perform their activities withinthe legal framework of both the comprehensive safeguards agreement and the additionalprotocol. Collaborations like bilateral arrangements between the IAEA and Member Stateswhile also recognising the resource limitation will contribute to the efficiency of the concept.Handling of voluntary and additional information provided to the IAEA and the scope thereofneeds to be agreed upon to enhance transparency. The following areas will be addressed fromthe State perspective. Members States expectations, additional responsibility for State Systemsof Accounting and Control of nuclear material (SSAC) resulting from the state level concept andhow the concept can be implemented in a manner that is non-discriminatory but still remainstate specific. The paper aims to examine the various facets of the concept from a South Africanstandpoint and present our perceptions and ideas, particularly on the level of cooperationbetween the State and the IAEA.