DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
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for its Member States, 70 signed in Vienna on 29 March 2010, entered into
force on 3 February.
On 10 March, the IAEA Board of Governors approved a proposal for
a Nuclear Fuel Assurance (NFA) 71 by the United Kingdom, co-sponsored by
the member States of the European Union, the Russian Federation and the
United States, for the assurance of supply of enrichment services and LEU for
use in nuclear power plants. The NFA is designed to provide IAEA member
States with an additional level of assurance for the front end of the nuclear
fuel cycle. The United Kingdom originally proposed the NFA in August 2009
based on the principle of governmental non-interference in existing supply
contracts involving suppliers of nuclear fuel services. The Standard NFA
underpinning a supply contract between a customer State and a supplier State,
with the IAEA as a co-signatory, assures that a commercial contract shall not
be interrupted for non-commercial reasons as long as the commitments made
by the States parties continue to be met. A Stand-by NFA underpinning a
supply contract between a customer State and a supplier State, with the IAEA
as a co-signatory, assures that a supplier State would be able to provide fuel
supplies in the event that a contracted third-party supplier in another State,
with whom the customer has a contract, is prevented from fulfilling that
contract for non-commercial reasons. 72
The Board of Governors approved the establishment of an LEU Bank
owned and operated by the IAEA on 3 December 2010. 73 Should an IAEA
member State experience a supply disruption of LEU for nuclear power
generation, and the supply cannot be restored by the commercial market, it
may call upon the IAEA LEU Bank to secure LEU supply at market price,
as long as it fulfils the eligibility criteria as set out by the Agency’s Board of
Governors. During 2011, the IAEA Secretariat continued work on developing
the administrative, financial, legal and technical arrangements. In May, the
Agency circulated criteria for a host State and invited member States to submit
proposals to host the IAEA LEU Bank. Kazakhstan was the only member State
to formally submit an expression of interest, and proposed two candidate sites
for an IAEA LEU Bank. The Agency sent a technical mission to Kazakhstan
70 IAEA, “Agreement Signed to Set Up a Low Enriched Uranium Reserve”, 29 March
2010. Available from http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2010/uraniumfuelbank.html
(accessed 21 May 2012).
71 IAEA, “Communication dated 19 May 2011 received from the Resident Representative
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Agency regarding
Assurance of Supply of Enrichment Services and Low Enriched Uranium for Use in
Nuclear Power Plants”, document INFCIRC/818. Available from http://www.iaea.org/
Publications/Documents/Infcircs/2011/infcirc818.pdf (accessed 9 May 2012).
72 IAEA, “Assurance of Supply for Nuclear Fuel. Nuclear Fuel Assurance (NFA)”. Available
from http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/NE/NEFW/Assurance-of-Supply/nuclear-fuelassurance.html
(accessed 9 May 2012).
73 IAEA, “Factsheet: IAEA Low Enriched Uranium Reserve”. Available from
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Factsheets/English/iaea_leureserve.html (accessed 9 May 2012).