Mechanism

Safeguards

Whereas the general aim of RK&M preservation is to keep awareness of disposal sites and to enable future generations

to make informed decisions, the general aim of safeguards, from a security and malevolent use of nuclear material

point of view, can be said to be the opposite. Tensions may thus arise between the classified and expertocratic nature

of safeguards on the one hand, and the open, participatory nature of RK&M preservation on the other.

Specific issues/

The current regulation on safeguards includes all kinds of facilities that handle nuclear material, but for geological

repositories considerations are still at a conceptual level. Discussions are ongoing within the IAEA and the European

challenges

Commission on how international safeguards should be implemented in such facilities, considering both the

operational and the post-closure phase and the desired continuity between those phases (including issues such as

institutional continuity, handling of classified documents, economic provisions, etc.).

Safeguards only apply to disposal facilities containing fissile material, and will thus not support to RK&M

preservation for other repositories.

International

International organisations (Euratom and IAEA) are central to the development and conduct of safeguards provisions.

dimension

International mechanisms: international regulations and agreements; international inventories and catalogues;

Connection to

international co-operation; international education and training programmes; international archives

Regulatory framework: national regulatory framework

other

Oversight provisions: monitoring; clear and planned responsibilities; land use control

approaches/

Knowledge management: knowledge risk analysis

mechanisms

Memory institutions: archives

Dedicated record sets and summary files: SER

• Ormai, P. (2011). The Connection between the Areas of Safeguards and Physical Protection and Record and Memory

Information

Keeping. In: NEA (2012). The Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) Across Generations: Scoping

resources

the Issue. Workshop proceedings. 11-13 October 2011, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. Item 26.

issued by the

• NEA (2013). The Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) Across Generations: Improving Our

RK&M initiative

Understanding. Proceedings of the second RK&M Workshop. 12-13 September 2012, Issy-les-Moulineaux,

France. Items 9 & 10, OECD, Paris.

• European Commission (2005). Commission Regulation (Euratom) No 302/2005 of 8 February 2005 on the

application of Euratom safeguards - Council/Commission statement.

• IAEA (1972). The structure and content of agreements between the Agency and States required in connection

with the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. INFCIRC/153. IAEA, Vienna.

• IAEA (1996). Issues in Radioactive Waste Disposal. IAEA-Tecdoc-909. IAEA, Vienna.

Other

• IAEA (2010). Technological Implications of International Safeguards for Geological Disposal of Spent Fuel and

information

Radioactive Waste. NW-T-1.21. IAEA, Vienna.

resources

• IAEA (2011). Model Integrated Safeguards Approach for a Geological Repository. IAEA Department of

Safeguards (SGCP-CCA) SG-PR-1306. IAEA, Vienna.

• IAEA (2017). Technologies Potentially Useful for Safeguarding Geological Repositories. ASTOR Group Report

2011-2016. STR-384. IAEA, Vienna.

• NEA (1995). Future human actions at disposal sites: a report from the NEA Working Group on Assessment of

Future Human Actions at Radioactive Waste Disposal Sites. OECD, Paris.

• Safeguards and verification | IAEA, see www.iaea.org/topics/safeguards-and-verification

Examples

• Safeguards to avoid misuse - European Commission, see https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/nuclear-

energy/safeguards-avoid-misuse

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