What Specific Challenges Have There Been for IAEA Verification?
Comprehensive IAEA safeguards have been applied since the 1970s, and no diversion of any significant quantity of nuclear material placed under safeguards has been detected, although minor discrepancies are often detected and resolved. The uncovering in Iraq, after the 1991 Gulf War, of a clandestine nuclear weapons development programme was nonetheless a watershed in the history of IAEA safeguards. Also significant to safeguards evolution was the positive experience gained regarding the dismantlement of South Africa’s nuclear programme with full co-operation of the Government, and the experience of the IAEA in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) without similar Government co-operation. Beginning in the 1980s, Iraq undertook an extensive programme to develop the capability to produce weapons usable nuclear materials. Although Iraq’s major effort was in the production of enriched uranium, it also separated several grams of plutonium from declared irradiated nuclear material.
