Date

May 11, 1959

Description

Apparently, Smith made cuts in the study that he mentioned to Vedeler, but the resulting document, GOV/334, exceeded 50 pages, with sections on health and safety and the "general privileges of Agency inspectors" that would later be treated separately. The section on safeguard regulations embodied the audit/spot inspections approach that the Canadians had developed and which Washington supported along with other members of the Ottawa Group. Safeguards would be applied to significant quantities of materials, production of fissionable materials, and nuclear facilities, including nuclear reactors. The tables (PDF pages 43-44) on reactors indicated that 100 megawatts would be the upper limit for the application of safeguards, although the Agency would eliminate that ceiling in 1963.

Director General Cole requested the Board of Governors to approve Section III of Annex I, the "general principles for determining the relevancy of Agency safeguards," which required safeguards for "significant quantities" of source material (natural uranium and thorium), for the utilization and production of special fissionable material, and for Agency-aided nuclear facilities (e.g., reactors, isotope separation plans, and reprocessing plants). According to Cole, once the Board had agreed to principles, it could make decisions on safeguard regulations

Source

Record Group 84. Records of Foreign Service Posts. U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna. International Atomic Energy Agency. Classified Files, 1957-1963, box 19, Agency Safeguards

Document published in following posting(s):

60th Anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency

Oct 26, 2017