Technology diffusion in IAEA safeguards: infrastructuring through collaborative effort

Abstract Safeguards applied by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. Since their emergence in the 1960s, these technical measures have grown into a complex infrastructure that supplies evidence for far-reaching political decisions. Yet, as this infrastructure evolves, the shaping of its technologies is driven by factors that extend well beyond mere technical constrains. To highlight the full spectrum of the safeguards’ development complexity and associated points of friction, this article adopts the perspective of knowledge infrastructures. It analyses the Member-State-Support Programme (MSSP)—a voluntary system through which countries provide the IAEA with funding, expertise and equipment—using a four-level framework that captures technology, organisation, classification processes and institutional aspects of safeguards development. The analysis is based on a comprehensive literature review, as well as an exploratory interview study with IAEA staff, MSSP associates, and safeguards developers. Ultimately, the heuristic presented here not only offers a better understanding of the intricacies behind safeguards technology development, but also serves as an identification tool for making friction points within the safeguards’ knowledge infrastructure visible.