Irmgard Niemeyer – författare

This book strives to take stock of current achievements and existing challenges in nuclear verification, identify the available information and gaps that can act as drivers for exploring new approaches to verification strategies and technologies. 

With the practical application of the systems concept to nuclear disarmament scenarios and other, non-nuclear verification fields, it investigates, where greater transparency and confidence could be achieved in pursuit of new national or international nonproliferation and arms reduction efforts.

A final discussion looks at how, in the absence of formal government-to-government negotiations, experts can take practical steps to advance the technical development of these concepts.

With the considerable advances made in the quality of sensors on board commercial observation satellites, information gained from them not only became widely available, but very useful for the verification of a number of arms control treaties including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (the NPT). Satellites have begun to play an important role in the safeguards procedures under the NPT. For example, from satellites, nuclear facilities and activities such as the construction and shapes of buildings (including underground activities), plant expansion, and changes in operational status can be monitored.

For an effective use of satellite imagery, it is important to determine identifiable signatures related to nuclear facilities that could be used in the interpretation and verification of activities. The book presents studies on visual and computer-based interpretation of remote sensing data for international safeguards purposes.