The photos were taken during a comprehensive training exercise that took place at the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant in the Czech Republic earlier this month.
The IAEA has a set of safeguards that consist of technical measures to verify a country's legal commitment related to its use of nuclear material and that it is utilizing nuclear material for peaceful applications, such as power needs, and not producing nuclear weapons.
The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the backbone of these efforts, and it states that Non-Nuclear-Weapon State Parties are required to make a comprehensive safeguard agreement with the IAEA and must allow the IAEA to perform verification activities, such as inspections.
The IAEA said there are 120 state parties that have comprehensive safeguard agreements and additional protocols with the IAEA. The photo essay said IAEA personnel perform field inspections, utilize cameras and take samples, placed in containers with tamper-proof seals, to evaluate whether safeguard measures are enforced. The IAEA performs safeguard evaluations and reports on them on an annual basis.
If anomalies are found, the IAEA and state authorities conduct probes to clarify inconsistencies, and if necessary, the IAEA then enforces corrective actions.
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