Speaker
Description
Locations outside Facilities (LOFs) hold limited quantities of nuclear material but States may have many LOF locations to regulate. Often States have many more LOF locations than facilities, generating a large administrative volume for the Safeguards Authority to manage what is a relatively static inventory. The challenge for each Safeguards Authority is to set up infrastructure with processes in place to streamline the regulation of safeguarded nuclear material within LOF locations.
A challenge for Safeguards Authorities is to collate and balance the reports on nuclear material held by many LOF locations. In the case of Australia, there are about 110 LOF locations holding nuclear material holding over 2,500 batches of nuclear material. It takes about eight person-weeks for each annual reporting campaign, to collate and analyse inventory reports, and then to balance the inventory and inventory changes to close the material balance period. The Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office substantially upgraded its database and permit holder portal called Nuclear Material Balance Tracking System (NUMBAT). The upgraded database addressed many of these challenges in strengthening IT infrastructure and streamlining the process of gathering information.
The proposal for this conversation café style session, with table discussions on various safeguards topics, encourages Member States to share recent experiences and assist one another in creating or strengthening infrastructure for the management of LOFs. The community of safeguards authorities within the Asia-Pacific Safeguards Network—many of which have small nuclear footprints—would have useful experiences to contribute to the conversation café style session. The following is an example of potential topics:
1. Managing LOF Inventory using IT Platforms
2. Managing material exempted on use and quantity
3. Preparing LOFs for IAEA inspections and Complementary Access
4. Managing domestic inspections
5. Outreach programs to identify new locations and to raise the awareness in existing locations
6. Additional Protocol – Research and Development reports under 2.a.i and 2.b.i
7. Additional Protocol – Building reports under 2.a.iii
8. Managing safeguards for mining, production and export
| Topics | SGI4 |
|---|---|
| Which "Key Question" does your Abstract address? | SGI4.3 |
| Which alternative "Key Question" does your Abstract address? (if any) | SGI4.1 |
