[en] International confidence in the Non-Proliferation Treaty's safeguards system was dealt a severe blow by the belated discovery of Iraq's clandestine nuclear weapons programme. The credibility of the present verification system associated with the NPT is low, a fact which could further undermine the treaty regime unless it is corrected. This report examines the weaknesses of existing safeguards and proposals for reform to reduce the risk of proliferation from activities at both declared and clandestine facilities. It also discusses the challenges for verification posed by ex-nuclear states that inherently pose special proliferation risks, and by the spread of nuclear materials and sensitive technologies. It proposes a range of measures that, taken together, would greatly improve the reliability of the NPT verification regime in the 1990s, and argues against some proposals that have recently gained some credence. So far, progress towards meeting the challenges of verifying the non-proliferation treaty in the 1990s has been painfully slow. Nuclear proliferation is a constant source of concern in the world today. In order to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its verification regime need urgent strengthening. This report identifies how that can be achieved. (author)

[en] A particular feature of nuclear trade is the need to ensure a good equilibrium between technology transfer and the requirements linked to non proliferation of nuclear weapons. The recent dramatic changes that occurred on the international scene have particularly underlined the difficulty to reach this equilibrium, reminding us the fragility of the existing order and the responsibility of the nuclear community in the field of non-proliferation. Consequently, there is a need for an international thorough review of the actual non proliferation tools developed until now. This review could lead to reconsider some of the dogmas upon which the present safeguard system is based

[en] In this paper, after a brief recall of the historical aspect of the centralized accountancy for the nuclear materials, we give the differences between the French system and the IAEA organization

[en] The Australian Safeguards Office in Canberra is the regulatory body whose main task is to ensure Australian nuclear material remains exclusively in peaceful use. The author briefly discusses the important aspects of safeguarding Australian uranium. ill

[en] Aerojet, a subsidiary of GenCorp. performed depleted uranium manufacturing operations in Compton, California, from 1977 to 1986, under a radioactive materials license from the State of California. The facility was successfully decontaminated and the license terminated in 1988, and the facility returned to the lease holder for unrestricted use. Waste management was an integral part of the decontamination operation. Criteria for the release of waste were included in the license amendment for decontamination and the technical specifications for the decontamination contractor. By coordinating decontamination with waste management objectives, the volume of radioactive LLW was limited to about 300 cubic meters and about 900 cubic meters of waste was released to municipal and hazardous waste landfills. In this paper procedures used to limit radioactive waste and to segregate the waste are presented

[en] The year 1991 proved to be an exceptional one for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards programme. This was largely a result of the activities carried out in Iraq pursuant to decisions made by the United Nations Security Council. However, even before these activities were undertaken, the IAEA Secretariat had initiated a comprehensive review of safeguards principles, criteria and procedures to ensure that the IAEA would be able to cope with the increasing demands expected to be placed on it during the 1990s

[en] The paper discusses the problems related to non-Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) safeguards agreements emphasising changes which would make it possible to improve the technical and operational conditions affecting non-NPT safeguards

[en] The link between the civil and military nuclear industry in Europe is discussed in the current political context. This includes the taking up of office of Mr Gorbachev in Russia and the Chernobyl reactor accident. Two main issues are considered. The first is the imminent decision on mass production of the French neutron bomb. This would require large scale use of civil reactors to produce the necessary plutonium. However, the fast breeder reactors needed do not have a future. The second is the growth of programmes dealing with mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuels for use in light water reactors. Reprocessing remains the link between the civil and military uses of nuclear energy. (UK)

[en] In order to develop and maintain the quality of analyses in the nuclear field, the CEA set up, more than 20 years ago, the Commission for the Establishment of Analytical Methods (CETAMA). This organization includes about 300 participants from the CEA group, the private nuclear industry and outside research organizations divided into 16 specialized working groups. CETAMA has three main objectives: (1) selection of the most suitable analytical methods and techniques; (2) development and quality control of results by the organization of interlaboratory comparisons; (3) quality assurance, performed by preparing reference materials and making them available to the analytical laboratories. Since it was set up, CETAMA has published about 350 analytical methods. (author)

[en] In 1957 materials control and accounting was supervised by the Division of Nuclear Materials Management in the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The procedures were adapted from those employed by professional accountants, i.e. double-entry bookkeeping, internal controls and annual inventories, using plant operations data. In 1958, three transportable, gamma-ray spectrometers were obtained for the inspectors. The more significant steps toward today's materials control and accounting structure are outlined