Are safety, safeguards and security synonymous?

SAFETY, safeguards and security are normally synonymous, but in the nuclear industry the three terms are used in completely different contexts. Because of the inherent similarity, many people, including policy makers, civil servants and journalists, often get confused and use the terms, nuclear safety, nuclear safeguards and nuclear security, inappropriately.
Nuclear safety prevents or limits the release of harmful nuclear radiations from any nuclear facility into the atmosphere in normal or accidental conditions in order to protect the workers, the public and also the environment. For example, multiple barriers are used in nuclear reactors so that no radiation can leak out into the atmosphere. Similarly, emergency core cooling systems are used to prevent meltdown of the core during breakdown of the normal reactor cooling system. These are built-in safety systems of a nuclear reactor.
The objective of nuclear safeguards is to deter the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The IAEA is mandated by the UN Security Council to implement nuclear safeguards by verifying the correctness and the completeness of the declarations made by states about their nuclear materials and activities to ensure that no nuclear material or any facility is used for military purposes. In applying safeguards, the IAEA is guided by several international instruments, like the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and IAEA Safeguards Agreement. Any violation of the agreements is reported by the IAEA to the Security Council, which can apply sanctions, if necessary, against any country for any serious violation.
Nuclear security implies the physical protection of nuclear facilities and materials to prevent any willful damage or theft by any person or groups including terrorist organisations. Since even small quantities of radioactive materials can be harmful to human health, stocks of all nuclear materials are strictly audited and secured appropriately during transportation, uses and storage. The IAEA also advises member states on nuclear security, particularly against terrorist activities.
It is very important that we understand the three terms and, for that matter, all technical terms clearly and use them appropriately. By using the terms wrongly, we create not only confusion but also a poor impression about ourselves.
 

The writer is a former chief engineer of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.