International Atomic Energy Agency
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), established as an autonomous organization on July 29, 1957, seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for military purposes. United States President Eisenhower envisioned, in his "Atoms for Peace" speech before the UN General Assembly in 1953, the creation of this international body to control and develop the use of atomic energy. The organization and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 7 October 2005.
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Institutions
The IAEA is headquartered in Vienna, Austria (at the Vienna International Centre). The IAEA has 138 member states, whose representatives meet annually for the General Conference to elect 35 members to be included into the Board of Governors. The Board of Governors meets five times a year and is a consensual body which prepares decisions to be made by the General Conference. The 49th General Conference was held recently (26 to 30 September 2005) at the Austria Center Vienna, around the corner from the Agency's headquarters.
Additionally, the IAEA supports a research centre in Trieste (Italy) that is administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
History
The IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology. The IAEA's programmes encourage the development of the peaceful application of nuclear technology, provide international safeguards against its misuse, and facilitate the application of safety measures in its use. IAEA expanded its nuclear safety efforts in response to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
The IAEA was headed by Hans Blix from 1981 to 1997, who became unusually well-known because of the 2002-2003 search for weapons of mass destruction. US/UK allegations that Iraqi programmes would have produced military technology justifying military intervention were never substantiated. The current head of the organization is the Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei. At the 49th General Conference, ElBaradei was confirmed as Director General until 2009.
With the increase of nuclear proliferation in the 1990s, IAEA tasks began to include inspections and investigations of suspected violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty under the mandate of the United Nations; however, it can only refer the matter to the UN Security Council, which has the monopoly on UN coercion measures. Little has changed in the organizational structure of IAEA, and though its inspection results tend to attract a lot of coverage, the matter of IAEA reform does not.
In a speech to the National Defense University on February 11, 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed: "No state under investigation for proliferation violations should be allowed to serve on the IAEA Board of Governors — or on the new special committee. And any state currently on the Board that comes under investigation should be suspended from the Board. The integrity and mission of the IAEA depends on this simple principle: Those actively breaking the rules should not be entrusted with enforcing the rules." [1]
The remarks were seen as a comment on the Khan affair, which triggered calls for an IAEA investigation of Pakistan, a country currently included in the organization's Board of Governors.
The Agency and Director General Mohammad ElBaradei were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
See also
- Nuclear proliferation
- Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- Nuclear power
- Nuclear weapon
- Nuclear reactor
- Sterile Atomic Fly
- United Nations Atomic Energy Commission
