Nonproliferation - GAO Report Highlights Funding Pressures at IAEA

A report from the GAO notes the challenges facing nonproliferation safeguards efforts due to limited funding if the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) and a growing set of threat opportunities.

Safeguards agreements may allow IAEA to make determinations—or “conclusions”—about the safeguards status of nuclear material in a country. In 2022, IAEA was able to make conclusions for 188 countries that had safeguards agreements in force.

IAEA has identified its limited safeguards budget as a fundamental, recurring challenge to safeguards implementation.  According to IAEA officials, IAEA’s zero-real-growth policy and recent inflationary pressures are challenging for the safeguards program because of IAEA’s policy against the use of extrabudgetary funding for safeguards inspector salaries. As a result, the number of available safeguards inspectors is limited by the size of the zero-real-growth regular budget.  

According to IAEA officials, the safeguards program has had to rely on voluntary cash contributions from member countries to meet safeguards needs. Inflationary pressures have also reduced IAEA purchasing power.

• Anticipated growth of nuclear power. IAEA officials and several stakeholders identified the continued growth of nuclear power worldwide as a factor that is expected to increase demands on IAEA’s resources. IAEA is taking steps to improve efficiency, such as increasing the use of remote monitoring of nuclear facilities.

• New types of nuclear facilities. The emergence of new types of nuclear facilities—such as advanced nuclear reactors—may require new and more resource-intensive safeguards approaches. IAEA officials and stakeholders said that the development of unique safeguards approaches for these new facility types could be complex, costly, and time-consuming. IAEA and member countries are working with developers of new nuclear facilities to ensure safeguards can be implemented effectively

GAO had previously reported on the challenges facing IAEA’s safeguards program:

In May 2013, GAO noted the challenges IAEA faced in implementing safeguards generally, and that IAEA had not clearly defined how it would implement or fund a novel safeguards concept known as "the state-level concept." The state-level concept is intended to optimize the agency’s use of resources by scoping planned safeguards activities in a country based on its potential pathways to a nuclear weapon.

 In June 2016, GAO reported on technical, financial, and other challenges facing IAEA in its effort to use its existing safeguards authorities to verify and monitor Iran’s nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

The total IAEA regular budget was approximately $418 million in 2022. Of this total, IAEA allocated approximately $161 million to its safeguards program.   In 2022, according to Department of State information, the U.S. provided a total of $211.5 million to IAEA in combined regular budget and extrabudgetary contributions.

[GAO Report Page]