Jeremy Whitlock is a member of Canadian Pugwash Group
IAEA Dept. of Safeguards (ret’d)
Principal: Ottertail Consulting Inc. Stratford, ON
Paper delivered to 44th Annual CNS Conference and the 49th Annual CNS/CNA Student Conference
Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, Toronto, ON, Canada, June 8-11, 2025
FULL PAPER LINKED HERE: Non-proliferation and the Nuclear Revival – Jeremy Whitlock – CNS2025
The summary:
The nuclear revival will need to proceed in lock step with enhancements to the non-proliferation regime if it is to succeed while remaining consistent with international legal obligations. In the past the evolution of the nuclear industry has proceeded at a slow enough pace that nuclear safeguards – the cornerstone of non-proliferation and therefore of civilian nuclear energy expansion – has generally been able to keep up with emerging implementation challenges. The safeguards challenges of the current nuclear revival however, based on the diversity of technologies and timeliness of proposed deployment, will be both significant and quickly evolving. There is a clear need, therefore, for early engagement so that safeguards solutions can be integrated within the design process and considered alongside safety and security requirements.
The good news is that, given sufficient early engagement, safeguards solutions exist and non-proliferation does not have to be an impediment to nuclear innovation (or put another way, nuclear innovation an impediment to global security). Quite the contrary, as embodied in the tenets of the NPT, non-proliferation can rightfully assume its role as an enabler and cornerstone of nuclear innovation: the NPT, it must be remembered, recognizes the “inalienable right” of nations to benefit from peaceful nuclear technology.
For Canada this will possibly include a national debate over technologies such as reprocessing – a technology that it pioneered in the earliest years of its nuclear program but has generally avoided until very recently. For innovations such as this, there are clearly proliferation challenges but also non-proliferation solutions (largely in the form of adequate safeguards).
Safeguards by Design, the proactive practice of good engineering whereby an end user’s international obligations are accounted for as early as possible, is also a concept pioneered by Canada. By continuing to accord due weight to this requirement, Canada is in a position to honour its legacy of leadership in global non-proliferation, and help ensure a sustainable nuclear revival.