NUCE 304: Nuclear Safeguards Basics

NUCE 304: Evaluative Methods for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Security

• Course name: NUCE 304: Evaluative Methods for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Security
• Topic: Nuclear Safeguards (Introduction)
• Presenter: Dr. Ahmed Alkaabi

Introduction and Basics of International Safeguards

• This section introduces the fundamentals of international safeguards.

“3S” Integration - Safeguards

• Nuclear Safety: Focuses on operating conditions, accident prevention, protecting workers, the public, and the environment from radiological hazards.
• Nuclear Safeguards: Prevents and detects theft or diversion of special nuclear material from civilian facilities through material control and accountancy.
• Nuclear Security: Focuses on preventing and responding to sabotage, unauthorized access, and malicious acts involving nuclear material, radioactive substances, and their associated facilities.
• "3S" Culture: Highlights the integration and collaboration between safety, safeguards, and security for a safe and economically viable electric energy production system.

“3S” Integration - Safeguards (Diagram)

• Shows the interconnectedness of training, engineering, operations, safety, security, emergency response, administrative functions, and maintenance for effective safeguards.
• Elements work together, providing safe, secure, reliable, and economically viable electric energy

“3S” Integration - Safeguards (Diagram - Safety, Security and Safeguards)

• Visual representation of the overlapping areas of safety, security, and safeguards.
• Depicts the interconnected processes in nuclear fuel production.

Definition

• Nuclear Safeguards: A set of measures employed to ensure states adhere to international treaties by not utilizing nuclear materials for nuclear explosives.

Measures

• Nuclear Material Accountancy
• Containment and Surveillance
• Design Verification
• Reports and Inspections
• Impacts and Synergies with nuclear safety and security

Why Safeguards?

• Introduction to the first and only use of nuclear weapons through historical overview demonstrating:
  • Power of nuclear weapons
  • Reasons why we want to prevent further use
  • Importance of safeguarding nuclear materials

The Manhattan Project

• Started in 1942
• Secret project
• 120,000 people
• 2 billion USD budget

Trinity Test

• First nuclear explosion in Jornada del Muerto, Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945.

“Little Boy” and “Fat Man”

• Bombs detonated in Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945), each measured by 21,000 and 20,000 tons of TNT, respectively.

Effects of Nuclear Weapons

• Energy released into four categories:
  • Blast (40-60% of total energy)
  • Thermal radiation (30-50% of total energy)
  • Ionizing radiation (5% of total energy)
  • Residual radiation (5-10% of total energy)

Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy

• Nuclear energy has many peaceful applications including electricity production, medical diagnostics, and treatments, food irradiation, oil well logging, and nondestructive material assay.

The Mandate: IAEA Statute (1957)

• Establishes and administers safeguards to ensure special fissionable and other materials aren't used for military purposes.

International Safeguards Regime

• The primary goal of the regime and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is to encourage peaceful nuclear energy use and verify that all nuclear material is used for peaceful purposes.

Why Control Nuclear Materials?

• Control of nuclear materials is due to their use as building blocks for weapons.

What are IAEA Safeguards?

• IAEA safeguards system verifies States' declarations about nuclear materials and activities.
• Safeguards ensure safeguarded items are not used for military purposes.
• Measures are implemented through agreements and protocols.

Components of the IAEA Safeguards System

• Nuclear Material Accountancy
• Containment and Surveillance
• Design Verification
• Reports
• Inspections

Objectives of IAEA Safeguards

• Timely detection of nuclear material diversions for weapons or other purposes.
• Detection of undeclared nuclear material and activities.

Safeguards Agreements and Applications

• Agreements between the IAEA and states establish the terms for IAEA safeguards.
• Reasons for agreements include project and supply agreements, treaty requirements, or at a state's request for any nuclear activities.

Types of Safeguards Agreements

• Different types of safeguards agreements exist based on the level, type, and quantity of material/activities included or being covered. Examples include INFCIRC/66, INFCIRC/153 (Comprehensive, Voluntary Offer Agreement, and Small Quantity Protocol)

Additional Protocol Coverage

• Safeguards cover a broad range of nuclear materials and activities.

Examples of Reductions in Safeguards Measures under IS

• Irradiated fuel (timeliness goal extended)
• Fresh MOX fuel (timeliness goal extended)
• Verification of indirect use of material

State-Level SG Approach

• IAEA evaluates the state, nuclear fuel cycle, interaction between facilities, and other state-specific factors to tailor safeguards approaches.

Non-Compliance

• A state violates a safeguards agreement with IAEA in a variety of ways, including diversion of material, failure to declare, violations in recording & reporting system, obstructions of activities, and interference with inspections.

Types of Non-Compliance

• Diversion of nuclear material: Cases that involve undeclared removal, use of a safeguarded facility inappropriate activities, and improper production/processing.
• Misuse: Actions involving materials specified under safeguards utilized for prohibited or undisclosed purposes.

Exemption from IAEA Safeguards

• States can request exemptions for certain materials up to specified limits, relating to specific intended uses.

Safeguards Approaches

• A systematic approach to safeguards, incorporating facility information acquisition, identification of diversion paths and acquisition paths, analysis, and verification of the goal attainment (success).

Nuclear Materials - Some Definitions

• Source material: Natural uranium, thorium, depleted uranium, but does not include ore or ore residue, rather ore concentrate.
• Fissionable material: Isotope or mixture of isotopes that can undergo nuclear fission
• Special fissionable material: Plutonium-239, Uranium-233, enriched uranium-235 or -233, and material containing any of them (but does not include source material).

Material Type

• Nuclear materials are also classified by material types and enrichment for uranium.

Direct and Indirect Use Material

• Direct uses include materials for plutonium less than 80%, HEU and 233U, and chemical compounds/mixtures.
• Indirect use includes all materials excluding direct-use material.

Significant Quantity (SQ)

• Estimates quantity of nuclear material influencing the possibility of manufacturing a nuclear explosive device. These significantly influential amounts cannot be excluded from safeguards and have varied values for different types of nuclear material.

References

• A list of reference materials/documents utilized.

Explore the fundamentals of nuclear safeguards within the context of international efforts to prevent proliferation. This quiz covers the essential concepts of the '3S' integration, which combines safety, safeguards, and security. Test your understanding of how these elements work together to protect against misuse and accidents in the nuclear sector.