The Euratom treaty​

Article 77 of the Euratom Treaty provides that the Commission shall satisfy itself that:

► Ores, source materials and special fissile materials are not diverted from their intended uses as declared by the users;

The objective of the European Commission's inspectors is to verify that the notified nuclear materials are indeed intended for their declared uses (this is known as " conformity " control). It is limited to the territory of the Member States of the European Union. It is a regional control.

►The provisions relating to supply and any particular safeguarding obligations assumed by the Euratom Community under an agreement concluded with a third State or an international organisation are complied with.

The Commission ensures that certain provisions of the contracts declared to the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA) are complied with and that commitments made, for example, in Euratom / third States agreements or to the IAEA, are respected.

Article 84 specifies that "the safeguards may not extend to materials intended to meet defence requirements which are in the course of being specially processed for this purpose or which, after being so processed, are, in accordance with an operational plan, placed or stored in a military establishment."

The consequence of this provision is that in France, the only remaining EU Nuclear Weapon State since the Brexit, certain nuclear materials are not subject to Euratom safeguards: these are referred to as “non-safeguarded materials". These nuclear materials assigned to defence needs are of course subject to the relevant national regulations and under the control of the French authorities responsible for nuclear safety and security.

Article 197 defines the nuclear materials concerned: plutonium, uranium and thorium.

The Commission Regulation (Euratom)​

The provisions for the application of Chapter VII of the Euratom Treaty are detailed in Regulation (EURATOM) n°302/2005, which applies "to any person or undertaking setting up or operating an installation for the production, separation, reprocessing, storage or other use of source material or special fissile material".

The European Commission has also issued a Recommendation (2006/40/Euratom of 15 December 2005) concerning guidelines for the application of Regulation (Euratom) n°302/2005 and a Recommandation (2009/120/Euratom of 11 February 2009) on the implementation of a nuclear material accountancy and control system by operators of nuclear installations.

Application of Euratom Safeguards in France​