The International Atomic Energy Agency last year received reports of 15 cases of illicit nuclear material possession or related incidents and 16 cases involving the theft or loss of sensitive substances, the organization announced last week in its annual report for 2008 (see GSN, Nov. 20, 2007).
(Aug. 17) -
Technicians install remote monitoring equipment to improve security at an unidentified nuclear facility. The International Atomic Energy Agency received reports of more than 30 cases of illicit nuclear material possession, theft or related incidents that took place in 2008 (International Atomic Energy Agency photo).
The incidents were among 119 events from 2008 added to the agency's Illicit Trafficking Database. As of the end of last year, the database had recorded 1,562 nuclear trafficking incidents dating back to 1993, ranging from illicit disposal efforts to discoveries of "orphan" nuclear material with an unknown provenance. Details for two cases reported last year remained too vague to allow classification.
The number of participants in the database program increased in 2008, growing to include 103 IAEA member nations and one nonmember contributor, according to the report.
"The continued reporting by states of incidents -- whether criminal, unauthorized or inadvertent in nature -- points to the need for further improvement of measures to control and secure nuclear and other radioactive material, wherever used or located, and of capabilities to detect illicit nuclear trafficking and other unauthorized acts involving such material," the report states.
The agency warned again of the danger of diversion of nuclear materials.
"Malicious acts involving nuclear or other radioactive material are a continuing worldwide threat," the report states. "Existing data indicate circumstances in which nuclear and other radioactive material is uncontrolled or is in unauthorized circulation. Related facilities and transports are at risk from acts of sabotage."
Several IAEA member nations took "concrete steps" last year to address faults in their nuclear security infrastructure, the report notes.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog continued preparing Integrated Nuclear Security Support Plans aimed at addressing nuclear security vulnerabilities in various countries. Ten nations approved their plans last year while 28 additional plans remained in drafting stages, according to the report.
The agency carried out 21 advisory missions last year that generated sets of proposals for states to improve the security of nuclear materials and related infrastructure, establish nuclear regulatory systems, counter nuclear smuggling and prepare for nuclear or radiological attacks, the report's authors wrote.
IAEA assistance played a role in installing new security measures or preparing to improve physical security at nuclear sites in 12 nations. In nine countries, the agency helped to bolster physical protections for radioactive material caches.
The organization cooperated with the U.S. Global Threat Reduction Initiative to repatriate Russian-origin spent highly enriched uranium from Bulgaria, Hungary and Latvia, the report notes. In August 2008, the agency played a direct role in the transfer of spent HEU fuel from a Portuguese research reactor to the United States.
The bulk of IAEA security improvement efforts were financed by a Nuclear Security Fund supported by donations from 20 member nations and the European Union. "The NSF continued to rely on the contributions of relatively few donors," the report states.
The agency conducted safeguards activities in 163 nations last year, intended to ensure the states are not diverting material for illicit purposes, producing undeclared nuclear material or conducting secret nuclear operations.
Of the 84 nations that had signed an IAEA safeguards agreement and the Additional Protocol, the agency was able to conclude that the atomic activities in 51 of those countries were exclusively peaceful. Agency officials had not finished assessing nuclear work in 33 of the states, allowing them to assert only that those nations' declared nuclear material was being used for peaceful purposes.
The organization also did not reach definitive conclusions about nuclear activities in 70 nations that had signed safeguards agreements but not the Additional Protocol, an arrangement that opens signatory states to increased scrutiny.
Last year, one nation signed its safeguards deal while three inked the Additional Protocol. The IAEA governing board OK'd a safeguards agreement for one nation and protocols in another four, according to the report.
Thirty countries had signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty but had not entered inspections agreements with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, preventing it from making any assertions about the nature of the nations' nuclear activities.
The agency complained of a lack of full nuclear transparency in Iran and Syria, which have been accused by other countries of pursuing clandestine nuclear activities possibly aimed at weapons development.
The IAEA Secretariat continued to pursue its Plan of Action to Promote the Conclusion of Safeguards Agreements and Additional Protocols in 2008, according to the report (Diane Barnes, Global Security Newswire, Aug. 17).