Safeguards are activities by which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as the European Commission (Directorate-General for Energy, Euratom), in accordance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), can verify the compliance of a Member State with its international commitments to use nuclear programmes only for peaceful purposes. In order to implement safeguards efficiently and effectively, the IAEA and Euratom need to deploy ‘State-of-the-Art’ tools, techniques, methodologies and expertise.
Germany provides R&D, training and consultancy support to the IAEA and Euratom through several national funding programmes. On behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN), IFN-2 is in charge of the scientific coordination of the German Member State Support Programme to the IAEA, which typically comprises about 25 joint projects. In this context, IFN-2 conducts R&D activities in the following areas: nuclear reference particles and analytics, geospatial information analysis, mathematical models and quantitative methods, containment & surveillance systems, as well as verification concepts.
Education and training are also part of the nuclear safeguards and security activities at IFN-2, including contributing to the Specializing Safeguards Master at Politecnico di Milano, Italy.
These activities are supported by active participation in national and international committees and organizations, such as the European Safeguards Research and Development Association (ESARDA) and the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM).
Head of Division "Nuclear Safeguards and Security"
