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A New Paradigm for Noncompliance? The IAEA and Syria

IN THIS ISSUE: A new paradigm for noncompliance?, Radioactive tritium leaks found at US nuke sites, Beginning of the end for nuclear power in Japan?, Utilities prepare lawsuit on German nuclear law, UK's Fukushima crisis plan, Nuclear regulators weaken safety standards.

Published on June 21, 2011
 

The IAEA and Syria: A New Paradigm for Noncompliance?

Mark Hibbs | Carnegie Commentary

Amano

The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), by nearly a three-to-one margin, declared Syria out of compliance with its safeguards obligations and reported the issue to the UN Security Council on June 9.

Advocates of the successful resolution said it was necessary to defend the credibility of IAEA safeguards after nearly four years of Syrian defiance. Some also claimed that it offers a new paradigm for dealing with countries that refuse to cooperate with the IAEA in addressing weighty allegations that they are secretly proliferating.

What was new? IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano first evaluated intelligence provided by the United States and then found data in the public domain that appeared to validate American analysis before concurring that a building at Dair Alzour destroyed by Israel in 2007 was a covert reactor. The board reported this as noncompliance—and it did so without IAEA inspectors verifying the findings first hand in Syria. Full Article   



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