Foreign Obligations and Annual Inventories Jessica Norles Savannah River National Laboratory.
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Transcript of Foreign Obligations and Annual Inventories Jessica Norles Savannah River National Laboratory.
Foreign Obligations and Annual Inventories
Jessica NorlesSavannah River National Laboratory
Agreements for Cooperation
Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act, as amended, authorizes Agreements for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy
Provides legal framework for civil nuclear cooperation with other countries
Significant transfers• Nuclear material• Major components• Equipment
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Agreements for Cooperation (cont.)
Includes nonproliferation conditions (eg. safeguards, no explosive use, physical protection, consent rights)
Originally designed when the United States was a major exporter; United States now a major importer
Current Agreements with 22 countries or groups of countries, IAEA, and Taiwan
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U. S. Bilateral Agreements for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Pursuant to Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended,
Agreements in Force as of May 2010:
Argentina Australia Bangladesh Brazil Canada China Colombia Egypt European Atomic Energy
Community (Euratom) Indonesia India International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA)
Japan Kazakhstan Korea, Republic of Morocco Norway South Africa Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey Ukraine United Arab Emirates
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Negotiation and Administration of Agreements
Department of State negotiates the Agreements with technical assistance of the Department of Energy (DOE) and concurrence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
DOE negotiates and implements Administrative Arrangements to the Agreements
Office of International Regimes and Agreements administers the Agreements for DOE
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Administrative Arrangements
Negotiated with each country; different requirements
Set forth provisions and measures for the application of the Agreements (day-to-day)
Requires periodic (weekly, monthly, annually) reporting on all imports, exports, and retransfers of nuclear material subject to the Agreement
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Administrative Arrangements (cont.)
Formal Administrative Arrangements for countries with whom there is a frequent need for consultations and significant transfers• Australia• Euratom• Canada• Switzerland• Japan (through diplomatic channels)• Others conducted on an as needed basis
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Foreign Obligations
Items subject to an Agreement are “obligated” Can be multiple obligations on material Peaceful Uses Assurances are sought and
granted on items subject to the Agreement• Official Government to Government notice
• Facilities are asked to verify material is for peaceful uses and will be made subject to the Agreement
• Assurances must be given prior to shipment
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Obligations Tracking and Reporting
Imports • Natural uranium to conversion and enrichment plants
• Enriched uranium to fuel fabrication plants
• Former weapons grade uranium from Russia to USEC
• Return of spent fuel from foreign research reactors
Exports• Enriched uranium
• Natural uranium
• Fabricated fuel assemblies
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Obligations Tracking and Reporting (cont.)
Nuclear loss/production (eg. enrichment)
Contamination (eg. reactor vessel closure head from Japan)
Substitutions under IAEA safeguards (eg. foreign research reactor spent fuel)
Obligation Exchanges• Domestic• International (eg. UF6 Feed Component Contract)
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Obligations Tracking and Reporting (cont.)
Other foreign obligations People’s Republic of China Argentina Brazil Chile Russia, for former Soviet Union weapons material Louisiana Enrichment Services (LES)
All activity reported to foreign governments originate from transaction data (741 form) submitted to NMMSS
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Annual Inventories
All Agreements require parties to produce inventories when requested
Agreements with Australia, Canada, Euratom, Japan, and Switzerland require annual exchange of inventories of special nuclear material, source material, and equipment
Content and timing of required reports are agreed to between the foreign agreement entity and the U.S. Government; requirements are reciprocal
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Annual Inventories (cont.)
Prepared by NMMSS Annual inventory reports to different countries
require different levels of detail. Some to the facility by facility level; some by fuel cycle; some country as a whole• Japan: 69 page report• Euratom: 1 page report
Footnotes/explanatory notes
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Annual Inventory Example
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Country as a whole
Reconciliation
Reconciliation with foreign countries occur throughout the year on individual transactions as well as on annual inventories
Match country’s shipping notifications with corresponding transaction data
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Issues
Late/absent notifications Large shipper-receiver difference Different obligations and/or weights reported Prior year adjustments Late reporting or corrections, especially after
year end close No established common identifies to match
transfers with notifications (i.e. Batch ID)16
Quadripartite Group
Initiated by DOE to periodically meet with representatives from Australia, Canada, and European Commission to discuss issues related to their respective Agreements for Cooperation
Goal is to streamline nuclear material reporting and obligation tracking issues among the four Governments
Document of Common Understanding and Practices
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Pending and Future Agreements
Russia• Not yet in force
Washington (LES) Armenia Vietnam Mongolia
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