Openness, transparency, and enhanced safeguards

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · JNMM (Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management); (United States)

OSTI ID:6945934

Much confusion exists regarding the use of the terms openness and transparency in the context of improved International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards pursuant to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). While the two are often used interchangeably, they are quite different aspects of the overall NPT safeguards approach. To clarify the terms, Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation (SAGSI) describes transparency as a glass house with an interior that can be viewed from a distance, and openness is a brick house that one can enter. While this analogy is helpful, it is not entirely satisfactory. Transparency is not a synonym for openness; it is a function or a result of openness. There can be no transparency without openness first, thus the issue of improved openness should be a prime consideration in ongoing international efforts to strengthen the current NPT safeguards system. The safeguards system administered by the IAEA pursuant to the NPT works because the treaty's signatories have a common commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and have agreed to common guidelines to verify compliance with this commitment. Nevertheless, a need to improve existing safeguards was expressed at the 1990 NPT Review Conference. This perceived weakness in the NPT safeguards system may be rooted in the lack of a common definition among Member States as to what constitutes openness. In this context, the issue of openness could have ramification not only for the effectiveness of the international community's nuclear nonproliferation efforts but also for the activities of the IAEA in terms of the resources required for the effective administration of the current NPT safeguards system. Some adjustment of the IAEA's NPT safeguards activities should occur in the form of a redirection of current efforts, an augmentation of current resources, or both.

• OSTI ID: 6945934
• Journal Information: JNMM (Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management); (United States), Journal Name: JNMM (Journal of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management); (United States) Vol. 22:4; ISSN JNMMEK; ISSN 0893-6188
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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