June 21, 2018 | San Francisco, California, USA | Nuclear Weapons

Blockchain and Nuclear Safeguards: The Potential for Distributed Ledger Technology

Invitation Only

This workshop, our second on the topic, will assess the potential of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to improve trust, transparency, efficiency, and security in the management of nuclear safeguards information from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA applies activities and technical measures referred to as “safeguards” to verify that states live up to their international obligations not to develop nuclear weapons. The IAEA, serving as a central authority, collects and verifies the completeness and correctness of state-provided information including holdings of nuclear material and reports of international transfers. The agency receives and enters into a database more than 1 million reports each year from its 181 states and more than 1,300 safeguarded facilities. The agency puts a premium on maintaining the accuracy and confidentiality of this information, given issues of trust with and between member states.

Cindy Vestergaard, director of the Nuclear Safeguards Program at Stimson, will present for feedback at this workshop a draft policy analysis brief on the potential utilization of  DLT to manage and securely share safeguards information.  Discussion and feedback from the workshop will be incorporated into the final publication.

Contact

Ben Loehrke

Senior Program Officer
Nuclear Weapons