In April 2013, the IAEA received a visit from Government officials from Myanmar in connection with the conclusion of an Additional Protocol and amendments of Myanmar's Small Quantities Protocol. The visit was followed by a two-week safeguards training course for four officials, held at the IAEA's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, in June 2013. During these visits, Myanmar requested the IAEA to conduct a national SSAC workshop in Nay Pyi Taw.
The Additional Protocol is a legal document that, when concluded with States with comprehensive safeguards agreements (CSAs), equips the IAEA with important additional measures that provide for broader access to information about the State's nuclear programme, increased physical access by IAEA inspectors and improved administrative arrangements. The implementation of an Additional Protocol significantly increases the IAEA's ability to verify the peaceful use of all nuclear material in States with CSAs in force. As of 15 July 2013, there were 121 Additional Protocols in force (including for 115 CSA States).
The purpose of a Small Quantity Protocol (SQP) is to minimize the burden of safeguards activities on States with little or no nuclear activities. Under an SQP based on the modified standardized text approved by the Board of Governors in 2005, the States are required to submit to the IAEA an initial report on all nuclear material subject to safeguards, reports of imports and exports of nuclear material, permit inspection activities and inform the IAEA once a decision has been made to build a nuclear facility. As of 15 July 2013, 46 CSA States have operative SQPs that had yet to be amended.
