The ESARDA safeguards course: a state-of-the-art

In the beginning of 2004 the ESARDA Steering Committee decided to establish an ad hoc Working Group on Modules of Courses.The aim of this Working Group was to create a safeguards course. The course should be at a university level for a target public of nuclear engineers, political scientists, lawyers, etc. Given the diversity of the target public, the course should consist of modules allowing to adapt to the students' background. The objective of the course is to establish a database of safeguards knowledge that can be used for the education of the future generation of safeguards experts. Given the decline of nuclear energy and the subsequent loss of interest of students for nuclear engineering in general, it was considered necessary to provide the academic world with a tool to raise interest of students for safeguards. The modular character of the course should allow the professors to use the course for different target publics. From a general overview of safeguards legislation for law students to detailed technical explanation of safeguards measurement techniques for nuclear engineering students; course modules should allow the professor to create a course for a wide range of students. The content of the course consists of: • Safeguards legislation  International Treaties & Agreements  National legislation • (Nuclear fuel cycle) • Development of Safeguards Approaches  From INFCIRC 66 to Additional Protocol • Basic principles safeguards  Safeguards goals  Nuclear Material Accountancy  II, PIV, C/S, CoK, … • Verification techniques  Sealing, Monitoring, NDA, DA This paper describes the state-of-the-art of the ESARDA safeguards course, modules that have been written, partners who have contributed and parties that have shown an interest in the course.