Institutional arrangements for nuclear fuel cycle services

Institutional arrangements include a range of undertakings by governments and private entities to facilitate the efficient and secure functioning of the nuclear fuel cycle. They encompass trade options, commercial contracts, supply assurances, technical assistance programs, and nonproliferation agreements. The purpose of institutional arrangements is to support, improve, and strengthen the existing mechanisms of cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy and nonproliferation. The INFCE study assessed the need to make unclear energy widely available to all countries, consistent with nonproliferation, and examined systematically what institutional arrangements and common approaches would be available for suppliers and consumers. This paper reviews the INFCE study, then examines the movement toward setting up new institutional mechanisms since INFCE. As with all institutional or multinational arrangements, decisions would be required on sensitive questions such as membership, financing, status of the host government, and the like. However, if acceptable arrangements can be worked out in time, new schemes for international storage of plutonium and multinational management of spent fuel can be introduced that could give better assurance of nonproliferation and supply.