IAEA/SAFEGUARDS ANALYTICAL LABORATORY: PROGRESS IN

UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000373 SENSITIVE SIPDIS IO/T, ISN/MNSA COCKERHAM, IO/UNP, ISN CTR CURRY; NA-243 GOOREVICH; NA-241 SIEMON, O'CONNOR, LAMONTAGNE; AFTAC FOR CHARLES BRENNAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC KNNP IAEA ENRG TRGY SUBJECT: IAEA/SAFEGUARDS ANALYTICAL LABORATORY: PROGRESS IN IAEA PROJECTS TO UPGRADE AGENCY SAMPLE ANALYSIS REF: UNVIE 00365 -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) IAEA and "Friends of SAL" met July 29-30 to provide Member States with an update on the Agency's Safeguards Analytical Laboratory (SAL) planning and needs. (Note: Friends of SAL is an informal group of Member States that closely follow the Secretariat's efforts to ensure a highly capable Safeguards Analytical Laboratory.) U.S. consultant Dave Swindle served as moderator for the meeting. During the opening session, Austria announced the conclusion of an agreement to allow the IAEA to use up to 100,000 square meters of land adjacent to the IAEA's laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria. The IAEA plans to build the clean lab extension (CLE) and new nuclear materials lab (NML) on this site. Japan also announced a new donation to the SAL project of up to 2 million Euros for the design of the NML, in addition to the 4.5 million Euros to purchase a large geometry secondary ion mass spectrometer (LG-SIMS) Japan had already donated. The U.S. delegation reiterated the offer to donate 5.5 million USD in extrabudgetary funds to take forward the NML project. The penultimate session of the Workshop laid the groundwork for future engagement with key Member States on ensuring both appropriate funding for SAL, as well as continuing to hold the Secretariat's feet to the fire to take the SAL project forward according to a well-defined mission statement and pursuant to sound project management. ¶2. (SBU) The Secretariat described its planned organizational restructuring, highlighted by the proposed creation of an Analytical Services Division in the Department of Safeguards. The proposal, which would consolidate SAL (currently in the Department of Nuclear Applications) and the Safeguards evaluation and planning sections into a new Safeguards Analytical Services Division under Olli Heinonen, has been put before the Director General for a final decision. (We are told that the DG has already committed privately to the move.) The Agency also described the steps it is taking towards a more robust network of analytic labs (NWAL); a necessary contingency should the NML at SAL ever be forced to be out of commission for any reason. Participants agreed to hold an update meeting by the end of 2009 to discuss the CLE and NML. End Summary. -------------- Towards a CLE and NML -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Representatives from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, European Commission, France, Germany, Hungary, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States attended the two day workshop. Austrian Ambassador Ernst-Peter Brezovszky of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs announced at the opening of the meeting that IAEA and Austria had signed an agreement providing new space for the CLE and NML at the IAEA labs in Seibersdorf, Austria. The agreement, signed July 27, will make 60,000 square meters of land available immediately, with the option for an additional 40,000 square meters later, if needed. The land will be leased from Austria at one Euro per year for 99 years. ¶4. (SBU) The IAEA's phased approach for upgrading SAL begins with the purchase and installation of a large-geometry SIMS (previously identified as an Ultra-High-Sensitivity SIMS) and an extension to SAL's Clean Lab to house the instrument. Japan has provided 4.5 million Euros to purchase the instrument and its associated lab equipment. Phase 2 is the construction of a new NML. Japan has offered "up to 2 million Euros" for the design of the NML. In the penultimate session of the Workshop, which involved Member States only and included a discussion of funding needs for SAL, the U.S. del reiterated an offer to provide 5.5 million USD for the NML, assuming the ongoing budget negotiations produced agreement on a 5.4 percent increase (see Reftel). During the workshop many states stressed the importance of maintaining operations at the NML until the design and construction of the new NML can be completed. -------------- Support for NWAL -------------- ¶5. (SBU) IAEA appears finally to be taking a serious look at increasing the capabilities of NWAL (the Network of Analytical Laboratories). Safeguards is working with partners in Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, France, Netherlands, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States (through DOE) to establish NWAL laboratories for nuclear materials analysis. The agency is also trying to increase its environmental sample capacity by reaching out to potential partner laboratories in Brazil, China, Hungary, and Republic of Korea. Member States agreed that enlarging NWAL capacity was a necessary step in ensuring sustained safeguards verification activities, in addition to the improvements to the Safeguards laboratories at Seibersdorf. -------------- Reorganization in the Works -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The agency presented its plan for the formation of a Division of Analytical Services in the Department of Safeguards (SGAS). SAL would move from its present position in Department of Nuclear Applications, Division of Agency's Laboratories (NAAL) to this new division. The remainder of NAAL would be reorganized into other NA divisions. The proposal has been forwarded to the Director General and SGAS would begin on January 1, 2010. Member States strongly supported the principle that the reorganization itself be cost-neutral and not require any additional staff. -------------- Member States Respond, Discuss Funding Status -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The final two sessions of the workshop consisted first of a members-only meeting to consult on what advice and reflections the Member States should convey to the Secretariat, and secondly of a session at which an informal summary of member states' views was presented to the Secretariat by the French Chair of Friends of SAL. The summary was passed as a non-paper to the Secretariat and is printed in full in para 9 below. -------------- Next Steps -------------- ¶8. (SBU) All agreed that a follow-up meeting within 6 months would be helpful to both the Secretariat and Member States. DDG Safeguards Olli Heinonen set early December as a target date for the meeting. UNVIE will work with the Secretariat to ensure that by December the Agency will clearly identify the mission of the laboratories, and have more details on its NML plans. The provision of U.S. consultant Dave Swindle to the Secretariat to help formulate and drive forward this project is essential. Meeting participants repeatedly noted that replacing the NML will be the most complex project ever undertaken by the IAEA Secretariat. While the workshop showed that the Agency is beginning to move in the right direction on appropriate planning, the success of this project will require sustained and long-term engagement with the Secretariat to keep the project within appropriate bounds and pursuant to sound project management. For example, it is only as a result of pressure from UNVIE, the U.S. consultant, and other Member States that IAEA finally has begun to formulate a 5-year plan describing what maintenance, etc., must be done so that the current NML can be counted upon to remain operational until the new NML is in place. Finally, the bulk of USD 20 million plus funding for the new NML, which will need to be available in 2011, has yet to be identified. Mission looks forward to working closely with Washington to strike the right balance between regular budget funding, additional U.S. extrabudgetary funding, and such additional funding from other Member States. ¶9. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT OF FRIENDS OF SAL NON-PAPER Workshop on SAL mission and future, July 29-30, Vienna Informal chair summary of the discussions among Member States / Friends of SAL NB: this non paper is not intended to be comprehensive and formally agreed but to reflect some common understandings among participants for the future of the labs and for the NWAL, and identify options for Member States support to achieve them. I- Summary of understandings from the group - Advice /Recommendations. - the group thanks the DDG SG and all Secretariat staff for their work in setting up this WS - the WS was a good initiative, timely and informative - we recognized that state of the art NWAL inc. SAL as in-house capacity is at the heart of credible SG conclusions Management - support for a new division for analytical services was expressed as providing many benefits (single PoC for SG analysts and operations, management of SAL by the only customer, increase efficiency and maintain Agency's expertise for the long term inc. staffing) - recognize that the reorganisation itself should be cost neutral and will not require additional staff for the purpose of the transition - there is a need for a long term strategy for SAL, as part of the SG LTS, starting from a clear statement of its mission and analytical objectives, and providing the corresponding equipment plan and HR strategy (how to recruit and retain people) Large Geometry-SIMS and CLE - purchase of LG-SIMS is made possible thanks to the government of Japan - the group welcomes this decision as it will provide in-house capability for the most sensitive particle analysis of ES - we recommend to proceed as quickly as possible with the CLE as funds are from 2009 RB Nuclear Material Lab - different options based on external audit have been discussed - decision taken by ECAS to go for a new SAL CLE&NML on a phased approach (option 3) was recognized as optimizing the Agency's long term needs and taking into account practical consideration of resources: it's the good choice - 60 to 100 000 m2 of land have been offered by the government of Austria in the course of the workshop making this option possible - security of the site is a key issue and is still to be funded (fences, access point) - need to maintain current capability until long term solution is available (a detailed plan for this should be prepared) NWAL - need for enlarging the NWAL capacity has been demonstrated during the WS - the group welcomed initiatives or efforts to expand their offer coming from different countries inc. Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Korea and Malaysia but recognizing that additional costs for the Agency and MS are associated with this expansion - greater involvement of qualified laboratories in developing countries have been recognized to be very valuable - the Secretariat should also look at the more timely solutions within the NWAL - for the NM NWAL, a quick risk analysis suggests to address transportation, cost and efficiency on an urgent basis Future needs - there will be potential future needs for additional analytical methods for the current missions of the Department of SG (impurities, morphology, age determination, chemical composition). - we group agreed that SAL has a safeguards only mandate and there should be no confusion between developing new methods for inspection samples and nuclear forensics, which is a nuclear security related concept with a specific legal meaning related to prosecution - new missions may arrive (i.e. FMCT) and therefore flexibility/modularity will be needed in the conception phases Project management considerations - we recognized that it will be the most ambitious and non standard project for the Agency - there is a need for a strong project management team - ECAS individual tasks may need to be re-scoped as projects (CLE, NML, NWAL) - there is also a need for a timely site management plan for SAL (land) - need to adapt the procurement processes to accommodate the unusual nature of the project in particular buildings construction steps - the proposed timeline (CLE completed by end 2010, NML by 2013) was considered as an important goal to meet II- Options for support by Member States. As analytical services are a core function of the SG, primarily funding should be considered through the regular budget. Supplementary extra-budgetary contributions Table of secured or expected contributions. Member State / Commitment / Purpose Japan / 4.5 M euros / Purchase LG-SIMS Austria / Up to 100 000 m2 land / CLE NML RoK / 300 000 USD / ECAS Japan / Up to 2 M euros / NML design U.S. / (pending outcome of regular budget negotiation) 5.4 M USD - some MS indicated continued efforts from their governments to identify funding opportunities - expectation by some EU countries to work with their partners to identify potential options in the framework of the EC instruments In-kind assistance - MSSP are expected to focus and coordinate their assistance for SAL, in particular on actions to fill the gap and secure an emergency capability before the new NM lab is available - 2010 R&D programme is expected to reflect needs for new analytical methods, NWAL expansion and needs for CRMs - some MS are ready to consider providing future CFE/consultants when needs will be identified (inc. project management, review of equipment plans and HR strategy) III- Future meeting. - the group would appreciate to reconvene for similar discussions with the Agency before the end of 2009 to keep everybody engaged and receive update in key areas (SAL's missions statement, description of project management, a five year plan to maintain the current lab) END TEXT OF NON-PAPER PYATT