Belarus hosting regular scheduled IAEA inspections

In accordance with the agreement on the application of safeguards in connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Belarus is currently hosting regular scheduled inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), sb.by reports citing the Department for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor)

Photo: www.iaea.org

The agency’s inspectors have already visited the Belarusian nuclear power plant (BelNPP), and today they are welcomed at the Sosny Joint Institute for Power and Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The inspections involve a physical inventory of nuclear material, verification of record keeping, as well as maintenance of the IAEA’s containment and surveillance systems at the BelNPP.

A safeguards agreement between Belarus and IAEA was concluded on April 14th, 1995. In Belarus, the competent authority for the state system of safeguards is the Emergencies Ministry, represented by Gosatomnadzor, which is responsible, among other things, for ensuring the conduct and support of the IAEA inspections.

IAEA safeguards are an integral part of the international safety system and constitute a set of technical measures that apply to nuclear facilities and nuclear material used by states. IAEA seeks to independently verify compliance with a state’s legal obligation that nuclear facilities are not misused and that nuclear material is not diverted from peaceful uses to the production of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. States agree to the application of these measures by concluding safeguards agreements.