During the
reporting period, ASNO organised a series of technical seminars, coordinated by
Dr Bragin, covering basic technologies, threats and non-proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction. Originally
conceived to meet ASNOs own need for greater multi-skilling of its staff and
as a way of better managing its corporate knowledge, these seminars have immediately
appealed to practitioners of WMD non-proliferation in several governmental
agencies, including Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of
Health, Customs, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Department of
Industry, Science and Resources and the Australian intelligence community. While these seminars are not open to the
public, some of the papers involved are available on request. The main purpose for including this
information in this Report is to give an indication of the range of issues
dealt with by ASNO.

ASNO staff members made all the
presentations, the bulk of which were related to the issues of nuclear
non-proliferation and the security of fissile material.

Seminars addressing nuclear issues covered
the following:

• Comparative Analysis of Verification
  Arrangements under the NPT and the CWC (Mr John Carlson);
• Verification of the Proposed Fissile
  Material Cut-off Treaty (Dr Victor Bragin);
• Evolution of NPT Safeguards
  (Mr John Hill);
• The IAEA Verification Process
  (Mr Russell Leslie);
• Physical Protection of Nuclear
  Material and Facilities (Mr John Bellinger);
• An Overview of Australia's Bilateral
  Safeguards Arrangements (Mr Nick Doulgeris);
• Proliferation-resistant Nuclear Fuel
  Cycles (Dr Victor Bragin).

A further three presentations dealt with
chemical and biological weapons:

• Chemical Weapons (Dr Geoffrey
  Shaw);
• Biological Agents as Weapons of
  Terrorism (Dr Kylie Brown);
• Analysis of BWC Verification Protocol:
  Strengths and Weaknesses (Dr Kylie Brown).

Two additional
presentations were related to the verification of the CTBT:

• An Overview of the verification
  arrangements under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Mr Malcolm
  Coxhead);
• CTBTVerification Challenges (Mr Andrew Leask).

ASNO has
planned an extensive program for the second year of the series in which it
expects to cover topical issues related to nuclear non-proliferation, CWC and
CTBT, including:

• The History of the DPRKs Nuclear
  Program;
• Verification of Nuclear Material: an
  Overview of Current Technical Approaches;
• The Use of Credible Data Authentication
  Techniques in International Safeguards;
• Terrorism: Potential Threats to
  Nuclear Fuel Cycle;
• Verification Elements of Chemical
  Weapons Convention;
• CTBT Verification: the On Site
  Inspection Process;
• The Use of Radionuclide Technology in
  CTBT Nuclear-Test Monitoring.

Several
lectures will cover issues related to the development of nuclear technology:

• BREST: a New Concept of a
  Proliferation-resistant Nuclear Fuel Cycle;
• Exotic Nuclear Power Generation
  Concepts;
• Trends in the Developments of the Nuclear
  Industry;
• Natural UraniumDeposits, Mines and
  Mills;
• Russia's Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Evolution
  from Military to Civil Applications.

Return to the ASNO Annual
Report Index | Brief Outline of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle