Development of Obligation Tracking System for Internationally Controlled Items in Accordance with Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreements

Abstract

A Bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement serves as a means to promote effective and universal cooperation while simultaneously guaranteeing overall nuclear nonproliferation. This agreement is legally binding and establishes a significant nuclear relationship between the two countries with strategic, economic, technological, and political aspects. It serves to meet the needs for industrial cooperation on both sides while also reinforcing the principles of nuclear transparency and nonproliferation. Additionally, the agreements are established and defined differently depending on the specific situation, taking into account the country and the type of cooperation. Authorities that sign such agreements must efficiently manage and control the entire process, considering practical aspects. At the implementation level, items subject to the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement, also known as “Obligated items,” are internationally controlled items that require inventory management and tracking from import to export, including retransfer. The Republic of Korea mandates the management of internationally regulated items, including nuclear materials, in its domestic law. However, the management procedures became more complex following the revision of the Korea-United States Nuclear Cooperation Agreement in 2015, leading to various issues at the field level related to obligated item management. Consequently, a system called the Obligation Tracking System (OTS) for internationally controlled items was developed to strengthen and streamline the scheme, providing necessary information to both Korean regulators and nuclear licensees in a timely manner. This paper explains how the OTS was developed to efficiently fulfill all related obligations imposed on the items subject to the agreement. The main functions of the OTS include (1) establishing a database of obligated items, (2) monitoring items and linking related regulatory information, and (3) generating annual reports.