International Atomic Energy Agency

5 min readApr 30, 2021

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organisation on 29 July 1957. Though established independently of the United Nations through its own international treaty, the IAEA Statute,[4] the IAEA reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.

The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria. The IAEA has two “Regional Safeguards Offices” which are located in Toronto, Canada, and in Tokyo, Japan. The IAEA also has two liaison offices which are located in New York City, United States, and in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition, the IAEA has laboratories and research centers located in Seibersdorf, Austria, in Monaco and in Trieste, Italy.[3]

The IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide. The programs of the IAEA encourage the development of the peaceful applications of nuclear energy, science and technology, provide international safeguards against misuse of nuclear technology and nuclear materials, and promote nuclear safety (including radiation protection) and nuclear security standards and their implementation.

The IAEA and its former Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 7 October 2005. The current Director General is Rafael Grossi, an Argentinian diplomat who previously served as an IAEA’s chief of cabinet, whose appointment was approved at the special session of the IAEA’s General Conference on 2 December 2019, as the successor of Yukiya Amano, who died in July 2019.

History[edit]

In 1953, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed the creation of an international body to both regulate and promote the peaceful use of atomic power (nuclear power), in his Atoms for Peace address to the UN General Assembly.[5][6] In September 1954, the United States proposed to the General Assembly the creation of an international agency to take control of fissile material, which could be used either for nuclear power or for nuclear weapons. This agency would establish a kind of “nuclear bank.”

The United States also called for an international scientific conference on all of the peaceful aspects of nuclear power.[7] By November 1954, it had become clear that the Soviet Union would reject any international custody of fissile material if the United States did not agree to a disarmament first, but that a clearing house for nuclear transactions might be possible. From 8 to 20 August 1955, the United Nations held the International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva, Switzerland. In October 1957, a Conference on the IAEA Statute was held at the Headquarters of the United Nations to approve the founding document for the IAEA, which was negotiated in 1955–1957 by a group of twelve countries.[5] The Statute of the IAEA was approved on 23 October 1956 and came into force on 29 July 1957.[8]

Former US Congressman W. Sterling Cole served as the IAEA’s first Director General from 1957 to 1961. Cole served only one term, after which the IAEA was headed by two Swedes for nearly four decades: the scientist Sigvard Eklund held the job from 1961 to 1981, followed by former Swedish Foreign Minister Hans Blix, who served from 1981 to 1997. Blix was succeeded as Director General by Mohamed ElBaradei of Egypt, who served until November 2009.[9]

Beginning in 1986, in response to the nuclear reactor explosion and disaster near Chernobyl, Ukraine, the IAEA increased its efforts in the field of nuclear safety.[10] The same happened after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Fukushima, Japan.[11]

Both the IAEA and its then Director General, ElBaradei, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. In ElBaradei’s acceptance speech in Oslo, he stated that only one percent of the money spent on developing new weapons would be enough to feed the entire world, and that, if we hope to escape self-destruction, then nuclear weapons should have no place in our collective conscience, and no role in our security.[12]

On 2 July 2009, Yukiya Amano of Japan was elected as the Director General for the IAEA,[13] defeating Abdul Samad Minty of South Africa and Luis E. Echávarri of Spain. On 3 July 2009, the Board of Governors voted to appoint Yukiya Amano “by acclamation,” and IAEA General Conference in September 2009 approved. He took office on 1 December 2009.[14][15][16] After Amano’s death,[17] his Chief of Coordination Cornel Feruta of Romania was named Acting Director General.[18][19]

On August 2, 2019, Rafael Grossi was presented as the Argentine candidate to become the Director General of IAEA.[20] On 28 October, 2019, the IAEA Board of Governors held its first vote to elect the new Director General, but none of the candidates secured the two-thirds majority in the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors needed to be elected. The next day, 29 October, the second voting round was held, and Grossi won 24 of the 23 needed votes required for Director General Appointment.[21][22] He assumed office on 3 December 2019. Following a special meeting of the IAEA General Conference to approve his appointment, on December 3 Grossi became the first Latin American to head the Agency.[23][24]

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International Atomic Energy Agency

Contents

History[edit]

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