The Year Ahead
ASNO will continue its efforts to promote effective safeguards implementation internationally, including through its APSN leadership role, by supporting programs such as the IAEA's COMPASS initiative and by contributing to technical safeguards workshops.
ASNO will continue to manage Australia's network of bilateral nuclear cooperation agreements and provide detailed oversight of the transfer and use of AONM around the world. A return to in-person meetings and reconciliation visits with our international counterparts will help strengthen regulatory ties.
ASNO remains focussed on strengthening nuclear security domestically, including incorporating the highest standards of security for nuclear materials and nuclear facilities. The ASNO review of the OPAL Reactor Periodic Safety and Security Review (PSSR) is a key planned activity.
ASNO will continue preparatory work for full field CTBTO on-site inspection exercises. These exercises were originally planned to 2020 and will now occur in 3–4 years' time.
The ASNO experts will travel to Malaysia in August 2022 to meet with the Malaysian CWC National Authority for the second exchange of the OPCW Partnership Program. The visit will have a focus on CWC implementation, in particular outreach to industry.
In September 2022, ASNO will host a specialist meeting with regulatory authorities of like-minded nations to discuss best practice approaches to monitoring and tracking obligated nuclear material as it moves through the nuclear fuel cycle (see Appendix C).
ASNO will co-host a CWC regional conference with Malaysia and the OPCW in Brisbane during October 2022, focused on capacity building for Pacific Island countries. DG OPCW, H.E. Ambassador Fernando Arias, will attend and present a keynote speech.
ASNO will promote Australia's achievements implementing the Additional Protocol at the IAEA's 2022 Symposium on International Safeguards. The symposium mark 25 years of additional protocols.
ASNO and DFAT will host a plenary of the IPNDV in Sydney in December 2022, bringing together nuclear disarmament experts to look at domestic and internationally developed verification technologies.
ASNO will continue to provide technical advice and support for the development of Australian Government policy positions on safeguards and non-proliferation matters, including to the Nuclear Powered Submarine Taskforce, in the Tenth NPT Review Conference in August 2022 and in the lead-up to the CWC Fifth Review Conference in May 2023.
