IAEA Nuclear Safeguards, Verification and Monitoring

by

Dr. Tariq Rauf

18. March 2026, 5 pm (CET)

virtual event - ZOOM only

      please register at: https://tinyurl.com/S4PseminarMar2026

Abstract:

All 186 non-nuclear-weapon States (NWS) parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are obligated to place all of their nuclear material, activities and facilities under IAEA comprehensive safeguards (verification) to fulfill their NPT obligation not to acquire or manufacture nuclear weapons, and that these activities and items remain exclusively in peaceful uses. The NPT nuclear-weapon States (NWS) have concluded voluntary safeguards (VoA) on some or all civilian nuclear facilities as a good faith gesture to NNWS. States not parties to the NPT have item-specific safeguards under which they select which of their nuclear activities are placed under safeguards. While in the latter two categories of States the IAEA does not implement comprehensive safeguards; nevertheless the Agency’s safeguards methods and procedures are implemented in the same manner in all States with safeguards. Regional safeguards arrangements such as EURATOM (EU) and the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for the Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) are in parallel to IAEA safeguards, and each of the three entities implement their own verification activities.  This presentation will describe the Agency’s safeguards system and briefly touch on the nuclear files of Iran and North Korea.

Tariq Rauf is an independent expert on nuclear governance based in Vienna. He is Expert Trainer on Disarmament and Arms Control at United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Hiroshima, and International School on Disarmament and Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO) 

He was Member of the Group of Eminent Persons for Substantive Advancement of Nuclear Disarmament established by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan and  Consulting Advisor on Policy and Outreach to the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, T. Rauf was Head of Verification and Security Policy; Alternate Head of Delegation to NPT Conferences; IAEA Liaison and Point-of-Contact for Nuclear Suppliers Group, Committee UNSCR 1540, Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force; and Coordinator of IAEA Multilateral Approaches to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle (IAEA LEU Reserve Angarsk, UK Nuclear Fuel Assurance, IAEA LEU Bank). He was responsible for the IAEA Forum on Experience of Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones Relevant for the Middle East; Office reporting to Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).