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Nuclear Safeguards Education Portal

Information Circular (INFCIRC)

The IAEA safeguards regime is a system governed by various bilateral and multilateral agreements made with the IAEA. These agreements are typically structured according to an Information Circular (INFCIRC), a series of resolutions and agreements guiding safeguards implementation.

List of Information Circulars issued by the IAEA

In the evolution of safeguards, there are three major phases characterized by the predominant safeguards agreement (INFCIRC) of each phase.

  1. INFCIRC/66
    INFCIRC/66 is the first document created to govern safeguards implementation. Approved by the Board of Governors in 1965, INFCIRC/66 pre-dates the NPT. INFCIRC/66 applies safeguards on a facility-specific basis, but the safeguards did not follow the material from facility to facility, leaving potential areas for diversion or misuse.
  2. INFCIRC/153 (Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement/CSA)
    In 1968, the international safeguards regime was improved upon with the introduction of INFCIRC/153. Under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, the IAEA was tasked with applying safeguards on allnuclear materialsin non-nuclear weapons states that were party to the NPT. This expanded the role of IAEA safeguards to a larger group of states and covered a much larger quantity of material flowing in and between those states. This was the predominant guiding document until 1991.
  3. INFCIRC/540 (Additional Protocol)
    This agreement came about in 1991 after the clandestine nuclear program in Iraq was exposed. INFCIRC/540 radically changed the safeguards regime, allowing increased inspector access to facilities within the states and multi-entry visas for inspectors, introduced the idea of environmental sampling to analyze materials present in an area, and expanded IAEA access in order to verify that undeclared proliferation activities not present in a state.