Fourth quarter of 2000
Head of EURATOM Safeguards pulls the alarm over budget cuts
WISE-Paris, 20 October 2000
[Posted 20/10/2000]
Wilhelm Gmelin, Director of Euratom Safeguards, stated at a recent conference that "despite the overwhelming need for verification in the nuclear field, governments and the EU Commission are unwilling to commit the necessary resources". In an unusually harsh language the top European civil servant, who has been on the job for 15 years, challenges the current decision making process on the safeguards budget. "Politicians, with one eye on the next election, question the need for safeguards and look for savings wherever possible. Clearly government has to look for efficiency savings, but the EURATOM Safeguards Office is already at a critical size. It has not grown significantly in recent years despite the amount of material and the number of material balance areas under safeguards increasing steadily. To cut resources now would risk reducing the size of the Office below that which would enable it to function effectively".
(Download Gmelin's 4 p. paper in pdf format here).
Gmelin made his stinging remarks at a nuclear industry conference on the " Future of Plutonium " which took place from 9 - 11October 2000 in Brussels. Over 60 presentations on the various aspects of plutonium were presented. The question of rising stockpiles and quantities of plutonium in bulk handling facilities such as reprocessing plants or MOX fabrication facilities has raised concern for some years. As the table hereunder shows, while the quantity of high enriched uranium, the other main direct weapons usable nuclear material, has remained stable, the quantity of plutonium under safeguards has increased by almost 50% since 1994. At the same time, the budget has not been increased since 1996 and the inspection man-days have decreased.
The European Commission, represented by its EURATOM Safeguards Directorate (ESD), has been carrying out safeguards on the territory of Member States of the European Union (EU) for forty years through a control system established under Chapter VII of the EURATOM Treaty in 1957. Under the Treaty, the Commission is required to satisfy itself that ores, source and special fissionable materials are not diverted from their intended uses as declared by the users and that provisions relating to supply and any particular safeguarding obligations are complied with. In principle, all civil nuclear material that is on the territory of the EU should be subject to EURATOM safeguards.By the end of 1996 the stocks of nuclear material safeguarded comprised some 434 tonnes of plutonium, 10.9 tonnes of high enriched uranium and some 290,000 tonnes of uranium in other qualities, thorium and heavy water. These materials were used, processed, handled or stored in some 390 major installations and 400 smaller ones. The EURATOM inspection effort was approximately 9,600 man-days spent in installations during more than 2,300 inspections.As of 1999, plutonium under control had grown to 505 tonnes while the budget remained virtually identical and inspection man-days decreased to 8,800 (-Reports from operators currently run at some 1.4 million data records each year, all of which have to be rigorously analysed and evaluated under the Euratom safeguards system and much of which has to be formatted in a suitable form for onward transmittal to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Quantities of Nuclear Materials under EURATOM Safeguards, Inspection Effort and Budgets
Plutonium (t) High enriched uranium (t) Low enriched uranium (t) Natural uranium (t) Depleted uranium (t) Thorium Man-days Budget (millions euros) * including heavy water
The budget for the year 2000 is 15,4 millions euros.
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