IAEA Board of Governors
Agenda item 6(b): The Safeguards Implementation Report for 2023
4 June 2024
Statement by H.E Ambassador Ian Biggs, Governor and Resident Representative of Australia to the IAEA
Australia thanks the Director General for the 2023 Safeguards Implementation Report (SIR, GOV/2024/28).
We welcome the IAEA’s continued progress, in cooperation with Member States, on measures to strengthen the effectiveness and improve the efficiency of IAEA safeguards.
The SIR again highlights the long-term trend of increasing demands on the Agency to implement effective verification. Australia welcomes the Agency’s continuous refinements to safeguards implementation to meet these challenges, particularly through the completion of the Agency’s improvement project for ensuring a consistent methodology for conducting acquisition path analyses and developing state level approaches.
Australia is also proud to support the Agency with capacity building, through initiatives such as workshops for the Asia-Pacific Safeguards Network, and with development of emerging technologies, such as computer vision for the robotized Cherenkov viewing device for spent fuel verification.
Chair
We welcome the work done by the Agency in encouraging States to conclude new safeguards agreements or update existing agreements to modern verification standards. We call upon all States that have yet to bring an Additional Protocol into force to do so as soon as possible.
We welcome that, in the reporting period, Sao Tome and Principe and the Plurinational State of Bolivia brought Additional Protocols into force.
We welcome Nauru’s decision to amend its small quantities protocol (SQP) but we note with concern that 19 other states have yet to amend or rescind their original SQPs, adversely affecting the Agency’s ability to draw safeguards conclusions. We support the Agency’s continued engagement to assist these States in concluding and implementing updated safeguards agreements. In support of this effort, Australia was pleased to jointly host regional workshops for nine Pacific Island states in 2023.
Chair
We remain deeply concerned that Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine has undermined the essential safeguards work of the IAEA in Ukraine. Due to Russia’s actions, and in circumstances involving no fault on the part of Ukraine or the IAEA, the IAEA was prevented from conducting some verification activities close to active combat zones.
Australia calls on Russia to immediately withdraw its forces from Ukrainian territory and return control of Ukrainian nuclear sites to the Ukrainian authorities.
We also note with concern that, due to the prevailing circumstances in Libya, the IAEA was not able to draw the broader conclusion for Libya for 2023. We note the IAEA’s evaluation that based on the safeguards relevant information available to it, the Agency did not find indications that would give rise to proliferation concern in Ukraine or Libya.
We thank the Secretariat for its technical rigour and professionalism in reporting on these matters.
Chair
We welcome efforts to improve gender parity in the Safeguards Department, including in the Professional and higher categories and for safeguards inspectors, and encourage the Agency to continue to accelerate these efforts.
We note that the SIR includes a section on naval nuclear propulsion – an accurate description of relevant activities to date. We welcome the Agency’s ongoing engagement and consultation with Australia on our acquisition of naval nuclear propulsion technology, including discussions on technical elements of an Article 14 arrangement and on facilitation of IAEA verification, in accordance with its legal mandate and as foreseen in the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. As at previous Board meetings, an update will be provided on Australia’s naval nuclear propulsion program under Any Other Business.
Finally Chair
We ask that the Safeguards Statement for 2023 as contained in GOV/2024/28 and the Background to the Safeguards Statement and Summary be made publicly available.