The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has completed an advisory service mission (INSServ) to Georgia to assess the security regime for nuclear and other radioactive material out of regulatory control (MORC). The team said Georgia has made progress in the development of arrangements to detect and respond to criminal or intentional unauthorised acts involving MORC. It encouraged continued development of these arrangements and their associated plans and procedures, and identified several examples of good practice.

The mission, requested by the Government of Georgia, involved a team of eight international experts from France, Greece, Jordan, Spain, the UK the USA, Vietnam, and one IAEA staff member.

The mission aimed to review the current state of nuclear security in relation to MORC in Georgia and provide recommendations on how to strengthen it in accordance with international guidance and best practices. Meetings were held with officials from the Agency of Nuclear & Radiation Safety (ANRS), State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG), Georgia Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOIA), and the Customs Department of Revenue Service of Georgia. The team also visited sea ports, border crossing points and the Tbilisi airport to assess the detection and response measures in place.

“The team provided concrete recommendations to Georgia’s national authorities to further develop the State’s nuclear security strategy and enhance the nuclear security detection and response systems and measures relevant to MORC, as part of the national detection architecture and response framework,” said Theodoros Matikas, Professor in the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Ioannina in Greece, who led the mission.

The team’s recommendations to Georgia to enhance its existing detection and response capabilities included the continued development of training and exercising programmes for front-line officers and the enhancement of existing nuclear forensics capabilities to support criminal investigations. Several good practices were identified, including:

  • the existence of clear, coordinated multi-agency arrangements at the national level for detection and response of nuclear security events with involvement of MORC, and
  • the existence of strong international cooperation to support its nuclear security activities.

"We commend Georgia for its commitment to nuclear security and we stand ready to provide continued support as they work to implement the recommendations of the IAEA INSServ mission," said Elena Buglova, Director of the IAEA Division of Nuclear Security.

"This is the first time that Georgia has hosted an INSServ mission and we would like to express our gratitude to IAEA for accepting our request,” said Vasil Gedevanishvili, Head of ANRS. “Acknowledging the critical importance of a sound national nuclear security regime, we are committed to implement the recommendations and suggestions, which are the result of thorough analysis and hard work of the distinguished experts. We appreciate the efforts of the INSServ team and look forward to further cooperation.”

The draft findings and recommendations were presented to the Government of Georgia, and the final report will be presented in about three months.

Image: Members of the INSServ team meet with a police officer during the IAEA mission to Georgia (courtesy of IAEA)