Vacancy Notice No. 2012/013

Position and Grade: Safeguards Data Evaluator (P-4)

Organizational Unit: Nuclear Fuel Cycle Analysis Section

Division of Information Management

Department of Safeguards

Duty Station: Vienna, Austria

Issue Date: 25 January 2012

Application Deadline: 6 March 2012

Type/Duration of Appointment: Fixed term, 3 years (subject to a probationary period of 1 year)

Organizational Setting

The Department of Safeguards is the organizational hub for the implementation of IAEA safeguards. The IAEA implements nuclear verification activities for more than 170 States in accordance with their safeguards agreements. The safeguards activities are undertaken within a dynamic and technically challenging environment including advanced nuclear fuel cycle facilities and complemented by the political diversity of the countries.

The Department of Safeguards consists of six Divisions: three Operations Divisions: A, B and C, for the implementation of verification activities around the world; and three Technical Divisions, (i) Division of Concepts and Planning, (ii) Division of Information Management, and (iii) Division of Technical and Scientific Services, as well as two Offices: the Office of Safeguards Analytical Services and the Office of Information and Communication Systems.

The Division of Information Management (SGIM) comprises four sections and provides the Department of Safeguards with services of data processing, secure information distribution, information analysis and knowledge generation necessary to draw independent, impartial and credible safeguards conclusions.

Main purpose

Reporting to a Team Leader under the Section Head supervision, the incumbent contributes to the IAEA’s overall objective to maintain and further develop an effective and efficient verification system through the implementation and development of statistical methodologies for safeguards applied to verification measurement data.

Role

The incumbent is 1) a specialist, providing, inter alia, statistical evaluations of safeguards data and preparing evaluation reports, developing sampling plans and random inspection strategies, assessing quality of measurements and effectiveness of the results of inspections as a service to inspectors; and 2) a team member, collaborating with colleagues to identify the best methods for random verification activities and the timely interpretation and evaluation of analysis results from State declarations and verification measurement data.

Partnerships

The incumbent collaborates with colleagues within the Division of Information Management on consolidation of safeguards conclusions, evaluation challenges, approaches and problems. The incumbent communicates on a daily basis with the counterparts in the Office of Analytical Services (SGAS), and in particular, with key staff of the Safeguards Analytical Laboratories (SAL). He/she liaises with Operations Divisions and actively participating in the collaborative State Evaluation process. The incumbent advises and provides authoritative guidance to nuclear safeguards inspectors, plant operators and State Systems of Accountancy and Control (SSACs) representatives in the field of statistical methodologies applied to nuclear material verification measurement data.

Functions / Key Results Expected

The incumbent contributes directly to the IAEA’s ability to draw timely and sound safeguards conclusions through, inter alia, the timely acquisition and processing of reports and declarations, by obtaining satisfactory and timely responses to questions regarding the correctness of State declarations and the timely implementation of safeguards measures. The incumbent is expected to:

Evaluate data consisting of accounting records (from about 100 facilities) and independent measurements by NDA (Non-Destructive Assay) and DA (Destructive Analysis);
Estimate nuclear plant operators and inspectors measurement uncertainties from accounting records and NDA and DA verification results or by error propagation from documented measurement uncertainties;
Supervise the evaluation of the DA analytical results provided by the Network of Analytical Laboratories (NWAL) including the SAL as well as the timely reporting of the related conclusions to the relevant Department stakeholders and liaise with SGAS in the framework of nuclear material analysis matters;
Evaluate and report the results of IAEA-SSAC-Operators inter-laboratory comparisons of DA results;
Participate in the preparation of verification sampling plans, contribute to improvements in stratification and sampling procedures, as well as to the broader implementation of random inspections schemes under integrated safeguards;
Implement near real time accountancy (NRTA) systems for large plutonium bulk handling facilities (BHFs) and interpret their results;
Contribute to the development and implementation of statistical methodologies in support of evaluation of data from impurity analysis;
Serve as a task officer for Member State Support Programme tasks to investigate, develop and/or improve statistical data evaluation techniques and sampling procedures, as well as verification and evaluation methodologies; and