IAEA Symposium on International Safeguards

ABACC–Cooperation and Engagement: Prospects for raising regional-international cooperation to a higher level

Not scheduled

7m

M Building (Vienna International Centre)

Panelist (Panel Session) Shaping the future of safeguards implementation (SGI) [SGI] Partnerships, Networks and Regional Collaboration

Speaker

Sonia Fernandez Moreno (ABACC)

Description

The implementation of international safeguards requires a high level of cooperation of the parties involved: Operators, State authorities and the IAEA.
In the particular case of Argentina, Brazil and ABACC, the implementation of bilateral safeguards, the Common System of Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (SCCC) to verify the basic commitment of these countries to use the nuclear materials and facilities under their jurisdiction or control exclusively for peaceful purposes, together with the IAEA comprehensive safeguards agreement, entails not only cooperation of the parties, but also a high level of coordination and engagement.
ABACC verification model, unique of this kind in the world, was established more than 25 years ago. This regional model together with the comprehensive safeguards agreement with the IAEA, known as the Quadripartite agreement, led to the establishment of joint cooperation mechanisms to optimize the verification of each agency while ensuring independent and valid conclusions for each organization. Thus, throughout these years, ABACC and the IAEA have developed and agreed on joint implementation inspection approaches and procedures and guidelines for the "common use" of technology.
This cooperation is governed by principles, including the obligation of the parties to cooperate to implement the safeguards foreseen in the agreement and the obligation of the IAEA to make full use of the SCCC and to avoid unnecessary duplication of ABACC's safeguards. The evolution of international safeguards in recent decades, the technological developments and the need to optimize the use of existing resources, should lead to a higher level of cooperation between ABACC and the IAEA, by which the IAEA can make greater use of the ABACC´s model, reducing the intensity of its verification without affecting its ability of drawing independent conclusions. This work reviews the state of the cooperation between the two safeguards verification bodies and discusses possible proposals for its strengthening to a higher level at which the ABACC model can be more fully exploited by international safeguards.