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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