Annual Report 1999-2000

ASNO Technical Seminars

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.

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