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14. June 2017

STATEMENT BY DR JOHNNY THABO PITSWANE, DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, BOARD OF GOVERNORS, 14 JUNE 2017, VIENNA

AGENDA ITEM 7C: SAFEGUARDS IMPLEMENTATION REPORT 2016

Chairperson,

The South African delegation associates itself with the statement delivered on behalf of the Non-Align Movement (NAM) on this agenda item by the distinguished Ambassador of Venezuela.

I would like to make the following remarks in our national capacity:

Chairperson,      

As such, South Africa welcomes the 2016 Safeguards Implementation Report (SIR) which highlights the Agency’s findings and conclusions, including the challenges resulting from the implementation of the safeguards agreements of Member States, concluded in accordance with their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). We are pleased that Deputy Director General (DDG) Varjoranta has issued a corrigendum rectifying the initial inaccuracies concerning the implementation of Integrated Safeguards (IS) in South Africa. In this regard, South Africa has been implementing the IS since 1 July 2015. We sincerely appreciate the prompt manner in which the DDG dealt with this matter.

Chairperson,

South Africa’s notes that during the reporting period, the Agency found that of 124 Member States – both with Comprehensive Safeguards Agreements (CSA) and Additional Protocols (AP) in force – there was no indication of the diversion of nuclear material in 69 Member States, whilst the remaining 55 are currently in the process of undergoing the requisite evaluation regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material. Given the importance of the Agency’s broader conclusions to the remaining 55 Member States, it would be essential for the Agency to provide further details on the timeframes and the associated challenges in the process towards their finalisation.          

Chairperson,  

South Africa wishes to acknowledge the completion of the Agency’s process to update the State Level Approaches for the remaining Member States in the original 53. We also wish to acknowledge the development and implementation of the State Level Approaches for an additional 11 Member States, which South Africa formed part of. 

During the discussions on the State Level Approaches, the Agency indicated that this mechanism would serve to introduce efficiencies into the verification regime, which South Africa supported. It is within this context that South Africa recalls the importance of resolution GC (60)/RES/13, which provides for the Director General to report on the lessons learned in the implementation of safeguards under the State Level Approaches, including an associated cost-benefit analysis. We therefore look forward to its timely release.    

Chairperson,

South Africa has carefully analysed the expenditure and the resource incurred by the Agency in implementing safeguards in Member States. As such, the details provided in the report are especially timely, given the Board’s consideration of the Programme and Budget for 2018-2019. We have, however, noted that there are either significant increases or vast decreases in the estimated regular budget costs for each Member State, as set out in Table of 7 on page 49 of the report. In order to provide an additional value-add to this information, it would be important for the future reports of the Agency to provide a narrative on the reasons for such variances.

We have further noted that since the introduction of the Safeguards Implementation Report, the Agency has been estimating safeguards costs in each Member State, taking into account calendar days in the field for verification; sampling; material balance evaluation; equipment; and satellite imagery, among others. While this methodology is certainly appreciated, given the financial constraints confronting the Agency, it will now be important to move beyond this in order to provide the actual costs.       

Chairperson,

With these remarks South Africa takes note of the report of the Director-General on the Safeguards Implementation in 2016 as contained in document GOV/2017/23.

I thank you.

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