Nuclear safeguards
Nuclear safeguards are measures to verify that States comply with their international obligations not to use nuclear materials (plutonium, uranium and thorium) for nuclear explosives purposes. Global recognition of the need for such verification is reflected in the requirements of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) for the application of safeguards by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Also, the Treaty Establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (the Euratom Treaty) includes requirements for the application of safeguards by the European Commission.
The UK Safeguards Office is part of the Nuclear Directorate of the HSE and oversees the application of nuclear safeguards in the UK to ensure that the UK complies with its international safeguards obligations by:
- working with the UK nuclear industry and others with safeguards reporting requirements, and safeguards inspectors from the European Commission and the IAEA, to make sure that the safeguards measures applied are both effective and efficient;
- ensuring that safeguards measures do not place unreasonable demands on, or result in unnecessary commercial disadvantage to the UK organisations involved ;
- helping to negotiate facility specific safeguards reporting and inspection arrangements with the European Commission and/or the IAEA;
- assisting UK operators, especially those unfamiliar with the subject, in meeting safeguards requirements;
- implementing the UK’s Additional Protocol;
- maintaining an involvement in international safeguards-related organisations such as the European Safeguards Research and Development Association (ESARDA) and the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM).
- providing support to safeguards officials in the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (DBERR) on safeguards policy issues that arise from the work of HSE(UKSO), as well as on other safeguards-related aspects of international and non-proliferation policy (e.g. including the UK Safeguards Support Programme to the IAEA).
