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Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of Finland concerning the Uses of Nuclear Material, Equipment, Facilities and Information Transferred between Canada and Finland [1976] CATSer 32 (15 August 1976)

E100334 - CTS 1976 No. 27

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND CONCERNING THE USES OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL, EQUIPMENT, FACILITIES AND INFORMATION TRANSFERRED BETWEEN CANADA AND FINLAND

The Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of Finland;

Recognizing that both Canada and Finland are non-nuclear-weapon States which are Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapon;

Recognizing that Canada and Finland have under the aforementioned Treaty undertaken not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices and that both governments have concluded agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency for the application of safeguards in their respective countries in connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;

Pending the development of multilateral solutions which will obviate the need for bilateral agreements regarding the transfer of nuclear supplies;

Have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE I

1. The present Agreement shall apply to items referred to in Annex A to the present Agreement, if prior to the transfer of items referred to in paragraph (i) of Annex A

(A) the appropriate governmental authorities of both Parties have agreed in writing that those items shall be subject to the present Agreement, and if

(B) the appropriate governmental authority of the receiving Party has informed the appropriate governmental authority of the supplying Party that those items are scheduled to be delivered to authorized persons within the jurisdiction of the receiving Party.

2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 of this Article, Article II of the present Agreement shall not apply to items referred to in Annex A to the present Agreement unless the appropriate governmental authorities of both Parties have specifically agreed in writing prior to the transfer between the Parties of items referred to in paragraph (i) of Annex A to the present Agreement that those items shall be subject to the provisions of Article II of the present Agreement.

3. Specific items which are listed in Annex B to the present Agreement shall be deemed to have been transferred between the Parties after the entry into force of the present Agreement, and notwithstanding paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article, shall be subject to all the provisions of the present Agreement.

ARTICLE II

1. Equipment, material, nuclear material and facilities referred to in Annex A to the present Agreement shall be transferred beyond the jurisdiction of a Party only with the prior written consent of the other Party. Information shall be transferred beyond the jurisdiction of the receiving Party only with the prior written consent of the supplying Party. Nuclear material referred to in Annex A to the present Agreement shall be enriched or reprocessed only with the prior written agreement of both Parties.

2. If a Party considers that it is unable to grant consent with respect to a matter referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, that Party shall provide the other Party with an immediate opportunity for full consultations regarding that issue. A Party shall not withhold its consent with respect to a matter referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article for the purpose of securing commercial advantages.

ARTICLE III

1. Nuclear material referred to in Annex A shall not be used for or diverted to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

2. If for any reason or at any time the International Atomic Energy Agency is not administering safeguards in a Party in accordance with the Agreement between that Party and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Safeguards in Connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Parties undertake to accept safeguard as set forth in an agreement to be concluded with the International Atomic Energy Agency in accordance with the Statute of the Agency and the Agency's Safeguards System thence in force, for the exclusive purpose of verifying of the fulfilment of their obligations assumed under paragraph 1 above.

3. For the fulfilment of the obligations under paragraph 2 of this Article the following procedure shall apply:

(A) The Party referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall enter into an agreement, satisfactory to the other Party, with the International Atomic Energy Agency for the application of the Agency's Safeguards System with respect

(a) to all nuclear material within the jurisdiction of such a Party, or

(b) to all items included in a list to be jointly prepared by the Parties; or

(B) The Parties shall jointly request the Agency to enter into an agreement for the application of the Agency's Safeguards System with respect to the items included in a list to be jointly prepared by the Parties.

4. The Parties shall jointly prepare the list referred to above on the basis of the latest inventory to be made under the provisions of the administrative arrangement stipulated under Article V of the present Agreement.

5. However, during any period when the International Atomic Energy Agency is not administering safeguards in a Party in connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or pursuant to any safeguards agreement referred to above or which is satisfactory to both Parties, the other Party shall have the right to administer in the Party in which the International Atomic Energy Agency is no longer administering such safeguards, safeguards based on the procedures provided for in the Agency's Safeguards System, with respect to the items included in the list referred to above, for the exclusive purpose of verifying that there is compliance with paragraph 1 of this Article. The two Parties shall consult and assist each other in the application of such safeguards.

ARTICLE IV

The Parties agree to take such measures as are necessary, commensurate with the assessed threat prevailing from time to time, to ensure the physical protection of nuclear material referred to in Annex A to the present Agreement which is within their respective jurisdictions, and agree to apply measures of physical protection which satisfy the requirements of the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency concerning the physical protection of nuclear material.

ARTICLE V

1. The appropriate governmental authorities of both Parties shall consult annually, or at any other time at the request of either Party, to ensure the effective fulfilment of the obligations of the present Agreement. The Parties may jointly invite the International Atomic Energy Agency to participate in such consultations.

2. The appropriate governmental authorities of both Parties shall also establish an administrative arrangement to ensure the effective fulfilment of the obligations of the present Agreement. An administrative arrangement established pursuant to this paragraph may be changed with the agreement of the appropriate governmental authorities of both Parties.

3. The cost of reports and records which either Party is required to provide pursuant to the administrative arrangement referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be borne by the appropriate governmental authority which is required to provide that report or record.

ARTICLE VI

The present Agreement may be amended with the agreement of both Parties.

ARTICLE VII

Any dispute arising out of the interpretation or application of the present Agreement which is not settled by negotiation or as may otherwise be agreed by the Parties concerned shall, on the request of either Party, be submitted to an arbitral tribunal which shall be composed of three arbitrators. Each Party shall designate one arbitrator and the two arbitrators so designated shall elect a third, who shall be the Chairman. If within thirty (30) days of the request for arbitration either Party has not designated an arbitrator, either Party to the dispute may request the President of the International Court of Justice to appoint an arbitrator. The same procedure shall apply if, within thirty (30) days of the designation or appointment of the second arbitrator, the third arbitrator has not been elected. A majority of the members of the arbitral tribunal shall constitute a quorum, and all decisions shall be made by majority vote of all the members of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral procedure shall be fixed by the tribunal. The decisions of the tribunal, including all rulings concerning its constitution, procedure, jurisdiction and the division of the expenses of arbitration between the Parties shall be binding on both Parties and shall be implemented by them, in accordance with their respective constitutional procedures. The remuneration of the arbitrators shall be determined on the same basis as that for ad hoc judges of the International Court of Justice.

ARTICLE VIII

For the purpose of this Agreement:

1. "The Agency's Safeguards System" means the safeguards system set out in the International Atomic Energy Agency document INFCIRC/66/Rev.2 as well as any subsequent amendments thereto which are agreed to by the Government of Canada and by the Government of Finland.

2. "Appropriate governmental authority" means in the case of Canada, the Atomic Energy Control Board, and in the case of Finland, the Ministry of Trade and Industry or its designated representative.

3. "Equipment" means the items and major components thereof referred to in paragraph (A) of Annex C.

4. "Facility" means any plant, building or structure using, incorporating or containing equipment, nuclear material, material or information.

5. "Material" means the items referred to in paragraph (B) of Annex C.

6. "Nuclear material" means any "source material" or "special fissionable material" as those terms are defined in Article XX of the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

7. "Information" means technical data in physical form, including but not limited to: technical drawings, photographic negatives and prints, recordings, design data and technical and operating manuals that can be used in the design, production, operation or testing of equipment, nuclear material or material, except data available to the public (that is to say published in books or periodicals) which is transferred between the Parties.

ARTICLE IX

1. The present Agreement is subject to ratification. Instruments of ratification of the present Agreement shall be exchanged at Ottawa.

2. The present Agreement shall enter into force thirty (30) days after the date of the exchange of instruments of ratification and shall remain in force thereafter for a period of thirty (30) years. If neither Party has notified the other Party at least six (6) months prior to the expiry of such period, the present Agreement shall continue in force thereafter until six (6) months after notice of termination has been given by either Party to the other Party; provided, however, that notwithstanding the termination of the present Agreement the provisions of Articles II, III, IV, and V shall remain in force until it has been agreed between the Parties that items referred to in Annex A to the present Agreement, whether such items are in existence at that time or come into existence subsequently, as well as information transferred from one Party to the other Party are no longer useable for the manufacture or acquisition of a nuclear weapon or of any other nuclear explosive device or it is otherwise agreed by the Parties that the provisions of those Articles should no longer apply.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorized by their respective governments have signed the present Agreement.

DONE at Helsinki, in duplicate, this fifth day of March, 1976 in the English, French and Finnish languages, each language version being equally authentic.

Paul Malone

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA

Paul Gustafsson

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND

(i) equipment, material, nuclear material, facilities and information transferred between the Parties,

(ii) equipment, material, nuclear material and facilities which are produced, developed or operated from, by or with the information referred to above,

(iii) material and nuclear material that is used, produced, processed, reprocessed, enriched, fabricated or converted or otherwise altered in form or content by, with or in any equipment or facility referred to in sub-parts (i) or (ii) above,

(iv) nuclear material that is used, produced, processed, reprocessed, enriched, fabricated or converted or otherwise altered in form or content from, by or with the use of any nuclear material or material which is referred to above, and

(v) all subsequent generations of nuclear material referred to in sub-parts (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) above.

ANNEX B

Shipments under the contract between Eldorado Nuclear Ltd., Canada, and Teollissuuden Voima Oy-Industrins Kraft Ab, Finland, dated August 15, 1974 as follows if shipped before the entry into force of the present Agreement:

NOTE: Shipment dates and amounts are subject to variation by commercial agreement between Eldorado Nuclear Ltd and Teollisuuden Voima Oy-Industrins Kraft Ab. The above schedule shall be amended accordingly by mutual agreement in writing between the appropriate governmental authorities of both Parties.

(A) 1. Nuclear reactors capable of operation so as to maintain a controlled self-sustaining fission chain reaction, excluding zero energy reactors, the latter being defined as reactors with a designed maximum rate of production of plutonium not exceeding 100 grams per year.

A "nuclear reactor" basically includes the items within or attached directly to the reactor vessel, the equipment which controls the level of power in the core, and the components which normally contain or come in direct contact with or control the primary coolant of the reactor core.

It is not intended to exclude reactors which could reasonably be capable of modification to produce significantly more than 100 grams of plutonium per year. Reactors designed for sustained operation at significant power levels, regardless of their capacity for plutonium production, are not considered as "zero energy reactors".

2. Reactor pressure vessels: Metal vessels, as complete units or as major shop-fabricated parts therefor, which are especially designed or prepared to contain the core of a nuclear reactor as defined in paragraph 1 above and are capable of withstanding the operating pressure of the primary coolant.

A top plate for a reactor pressure vessel is a major shop-fabricated part of a pressure vessel.

3. Reactor internals (e.g. support columns and plates for the core and other vessel internals, control rod guide tubes, thermal shields, baffles, core grid plates, diffuser plates, etc.).

4. Reactor fuel charging and discharging machines: Manipulative equipment especially designed or prepared for inserting or removing fuel in a nuclear reactor as defined in paragraph 1 above capable of on-load operation or employing technically sophisticated positioning or alignment features to allow complex off-load fuelling operations such as those in which direct viewing of or access to the fuel is not normally available.

5. Reactor control rods: Rods especially designed or prepared for the control of the reaction rate in a nuclear reactor as defined in paragraph 1 above.

This item includes, in addition to the neutron absorbing part, the support or suspension structures therefor if supplied separately.

6. Reactor pressure tubes: Tubes which are especially designed or prepared to contain fuel elements and the primary coolant in a nuclear reactor as defined in paragraph 1 above at an operating pressure in excess of 50 atmospheres.

7. Zirconium tubes: Zirconium metal and alloys in the form of tubes or assemblies of tubes, and in quantities exceeding 500 kg especially designed or prepared for use in a nuclear reactor as defined in paragraph 1 above, and in which the relationship of hafnium to zirconium is less than 1:500 parts by weight.

8. Primary coolant pumps: Pumps especially designed or prepared for circulating liquid metal as primary coolant for nuclear reactors as defined in paragraph 1 above.

9. Plants for the reprocessing of irradiated fuel elements, and equipment especially designed or prepared therefor.

A "plant for the reprocessing of irradiated fuel elements" includes the equipment and components which normally come in direct contact with and directly control the irradiated fuel and the major nuclear material and fission product processing streams. In the present state of technology only two items of equipment are considered to fall within the meaning of the phrase "and equipment especially designed or prepared therefor". These items are:

(a) Irradiated fuel element chopping machines: remotely operated equipment especially designed or prepared for use in a reprocessing plant as identified above and intended to cut, chop or shear irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies, bundles or rods; and

(b) Critically safe tanks (e.g. small diameter, annular or slab tanks) especially designed or prepared for use in a reprocessing plant as identified above, intended for dissolution of irradiated nuclear fuel and which are capable of withstanding hot, highly corrosive liquid, and which can be remotely loaded and maintained.

10. Plants for the fabrication of fuel elements

A "plant for the fabrication of fuel elements" includes the equipment:

(a) Which normally comes in direct contact with or directly processes, or controls, the production flow of nuclear material;

(b) Which seals the nuclear material within the cladding.

The whole set of items for the foregoing operations as well as individual items intended for any of the foregoing operations, and for other fuel fabrication operations, such as checking the integrity of the cladding or the seal, and the finish treatment to the solid fuel.

11. Equipment, other than analytical instruments, especially designed or prepared for the separation of isotopes of uranium

"Equipment, other than analytical instruments, especially designed or prepared for the separation of isotopes of uranium" includes each of the major items of equipment especially designed or prepared for the separation process.

12. Plants for the production of heavy water

A "plant for the production of heavy water" includes the plant and equipment specially designed for the enrichment of deuterium or its compounds.

(B) Non-Nuclear materials for reactors:

1. Deuterium and heavy water: Deuterium and any deuterium compound in which the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen exceeds 1:5000 for use in a nuclear reactor, as defined in paragraph (A)1 of Annex C in quantities exceeding 200 kg of deuterium atoms in any period of 12 months.

2. Nuclear grade graphite: Graphite having a purity level better than 5 parts per million boron equivalent and with a density greater than 1.50 grams per cubic centimetre in quantities exceeding 30 metric tons in any period of 12 months.