The Euratom Nuclear Material Accountancy System for theimplementation of the safeguards agreements, the Euratom Treatyand Euratom agreements with third States

摘要

As early as 1957 the founding members of the European Atomic Energy Community established theEuratom Treaty with the aim of promoting the peacefull uses of nuclear Energy, while at the same timeintroducing controls aiming at enhancing safety and security and preventing uses of nuclear material other thanthe ones declared. Chapter VII of the Euratom Treaty foresees the implementation of Safeguards on nuclearmaterial used in the Community and establishes details of the Euratom Safeguards system. Euratom safeguardsis entrusted to the European Commission and is based on two pillars: (I)Assurance that Nuclear Material is notdiverted from its declared use [Art. 77(a)] (ii)Compliance with the obligations that the Community hasundertaken as a result of agreemnts with international organisations the third states [Art. 77(b)]. Further, Art.101, gives to the European Commission the mandate to negotiate, sign and implement International agreements.The agreements with the IAEA and the main supplier states are such examples. The cornerstone of EuratomSafeguards is the Euratom Nuclear Material Accountancy system, which, according to Art. 79 of the Treaty, isbased on a Commission Regulation. The Commission Safeguards Regulation, is the legal basis and givespractical guidance as to the contents, format and frequency of the records and reports that the operators ofNuclear Installations have to submit to the Commission. These reports form the adequate basis for theCommission in discharging its responsibilities vis-à-vis the IAEA and third states. The paper describes theEuratom NMA system and its recent overhaul to take into account additional reporting requirements stemmingfrom the Additional Protocol and also from the IT developments.