The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Secretariat presented its 2014 Safeguards Implementation Report to the Board of Governors today, revealing key findings compiled from more than 1 million nuclear balance reports and more than 2,700 on-site inspections.
The IAEA’s safeguards are technical measures meant to verify that member states are not using peaceful nuclear programs to create weapons. They can be strengthened with additional protocols.
There are 118 states with safeguard agreements and additional protocols. Of those, the IAEA found no signs of any member states diverting declared nuclear material from peaceful activities, though 53 were still undergoing evaluations for indications of undeclared materials or activities.
There are 54 states with safeguard agreements and no additional protocols, for which the IAEA cannot confirm that all nuclear materials and activities are declared, but the agency did find that none of them were diverting materials that are declared to weapons purposes.
The report’s findings are the result of 13,000 working days worth of information gathering, which translates into an increase of 7.5 percent for in-field inspections
