Publications

Reducing Safeguards Accounting and Verification Efforts on Retained Wastes

Finch, Robert F.; Smith, Nicholas

The global expansion of nuclear energy will generate increasing quantities of waste with low levels of plutonium or other nuclear materials (NM) potentially subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. Reducing requirements on retained wastes has the potential to reduce future demands on already strained IAEA resources. We describe an effort to help the IAEA and Member States better estimate projected waste loads and associated safeguards obligations by developing a reporting tool to estimate types and sizes of future waste-storage and -disposal facilities. States can use such information to plan waste facilities, including size and type. The IAEA can use these data for inclusion in multiple agency reports and products for the benefit of Member States.