IAEA Facts
General information
The International Atomic Energy Agency serves as the world's central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field. A specialized agency within the United Nations system, the IAEA maintains its headquarters in Vienna.
Policymaking Organs
Policymaking organs of the IAEA are the General Conference and the Board of Governors.
Working jointly, these two organs decide the Agency's programme and budget and appoint the Director General of the IAEA. The General Conference is composed of representatives of all IAEA Member States. The Board of Governors has 35 members, of which 13 are designated by the Board and 22 are elected by the General Conference.
Member States
By 27 July 1957, eighteen States have ratified the Statute of the IAEA thus bringing it into force. As of 1 December 1999, the IAEA has 130 Member States.
Austria has been a member since 1957 together with the UK, the United States, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Switzerland, Vietnam and Sweden among others.
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"We will continue efforts to assist States to prevent, detect and respond to illicit trafficking of
nuclear and radioactive material and to co-operate to that end with other international organizations.".
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"Radioactive waste management is a particular issue on which the Agency and its
Member States are intensifying co-operative efforts.".
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Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei
Director General-Designate
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, who hold the rank of Ambassador in the Egyptian Foreign Service, has been a senior member of the IAEA Secretariat since 1984. He is currently Assistant Director General for External Relations. Among his primary responsibilities are relations with the Agency's 125 Member States and policy aspects of the IAEA´s inspections and verification system in the context of non-proliferation.
Mohamed ElBaradei was born in Egypt in 1942. He gained his initial law degrees in the 1960s at the University of Cairo, and subsequently his Masters degree and Doctorate in International Law at the New York University School of Law between 1971 and 1974.
He began his diplomatic career in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1964, serving notably on two occasions in the Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations in New York and Geneva.
In 1984 he was appointed Representative of the Director General of the IAEA to the United Nations, after which he became the Agency's Legal Adviser and Director of its Legal Division in Vienna from 1987 before moving to his present post.
During his thirty years work as a diplomat, international civil servant and scholar, Dr. ElBaradei has become closely familiar with the work, processes and legal framework of international organisations, notably in the UN system. His career with the IAEA has enabled him to develop wide expertise in its varying fields of activity including technical cooperation, nuclear safety and verification and political and legal issues.
He has lectured widely on arms control and non-proliferation and on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. He belongs to a number of professional associations, including the International Law Association, the American Society of international Law and the Nuclear Law Association.
He speaks Arabic, English and French.
Dr. ElBaradei is married and has two children. |
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The nuclear landscape has changed considerably over the past decade. The changes influence in important ways the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which serves as the global institution for nuclear co-operation. In response, the Agency and its 130 Member States have charted a forward looking course for the beginning of the 21st century.
The Agency's activities can be grouped around three 'pillars': nuclear, radiation and waste safety; verification of commitments made by States to the exclusively peaceful use of nuclear energy and materials (safeguards); and assistance to Member States in the use of nuclear energy in fields such as electricity generation, health care, food production, environmental protection and the management of water resources.
I want here to briefly outline some of the general trends we see in the years ahead and to note developments at last year's session of the General Conference of Member States which illustrate the directions we are
taking.
A global safety structure
In the area of safety, the Agency will continue to promote a global safety culture comprising well established standards and norms for the peaceful uses of nuclear power and nuclear applications and the safe management of radioactive waste. To this end, high priority will be given to revising the full set of IAEA safety standards and to facilitating their acceptance and implementation by States through advisory services. In addition, efforts will be made to secure wider adherence by States to international conventions related to nuclear safety and to the safe management of nuclear and radioactive
waste.
Radioactive waste management
Radioactive waste management is a particular issue on which the Agency and its Member States are intensifying co-operative efforts. In 1999, we convened an international symposium in the Republic of Korea that focused on the technology of radioactive waste management. The results indicated that technologies exist for the safe, environmentally sound and cost effective management of radioactive wastes. Another IAEA sponsored conference on this issue will follow in Spain this spring, with the emphasis this time on safety. From our perspective, these initiatives underline the importance of moving towards demonstrating practical solutions. Only when final high level waste repositories are built will the public start to perceive and accept that the waste issue has indeed been resolved. The Agency will continue to put in place a strengthened safeguards system so as to give greater assurance that States are adhering to non-proliferation commitments and will prepare itself to assume wider responsibilities for verifying weapons grade material released from military use in nuclear weapon States. In April this year, the 187 signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) - under which the Agency carries out much of its verification work - will meet in New York and review how the Treaty is being implemented. We will also continue efforts to assist States to prevent, detect and respond to illicit trafficking of nuclear and radioactive material and to co-operate to that end with other international
organizations.
The "back end" of the fuel cyle
At the same time the Agency will maintain its role as the principal multilateral organization promoting technical co-operation aimed at bringing the sustainable benefits of nuclear energy to the developing countries. In terms of nuclear power, high priority will be given to the so-called 'back end' of the fuel cycle, in particular to measures for the safe management of waste, to small and medium size reactors (for both power generation and desalination purposes), to the exchange of information on innovative fuel cycles and reactor designs, and to the potential role of nuclear energy in sustainable development. With regard to nuclear applications, the Agency will continue to respond to the priorities of developing Member States to apply nuclear techniques where these can help in efforts to increase food production, fight disease, manage water resources and monitor and protect the
environment.
Results and decisions
At the last annual IAEA General Conference in September, the Member States discussed both the results that have been obtained in these and other areas and the proposals for future Agency work. A brief review of some of the decisions reached at the Conference - all by consensus - and the events that took place during the week thus provides an illustration of where the Agency is
headed:
- In my opening remarks to the Conference, I emphasized the growing importance of forging stronger partnerships with the United Nations and other organizations and reaching out to civil society in order to make more effective and efficient contributions to solving global challenges - improving the social and economic conditions in much of the world, curbing the spread and eventually eliminating the threat of nuclear weapons, and halting the degradation of our climate and
environment.
- It was announced that six more States - the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Indonesia, Monaco, Norway and Slovakia - had signed what are known as Additional Protocols to their safeguards agreements with the Agency. The Protocols authorize the IAEA to apply measures that add the capability of detecting possible undeclared nuclear activities in a State, including any clandestine nuclear weapon programme. Altogether, 46 States (as of January 2000) have concluded Additional Protocols and others are in the process of negotiating them. In welcoming these steps, the General Conference underlined the vital importance of effective safeguards for facilitating co-operation in the field of peaceful nuclear
development.
- Member States also stressed the urgency of re-establishing the IAEA's nuclear monitoring and verification activities in Iraq, where the last full scale inspections under the mandate of the UN Security Council took place more than a year
ago.
- For some time, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has not fully co-operated with the Agency in the implementation of its comprehensive safeguards agreement, and Member States called upon that country to comply fully with its agreement and to take all steps that the Agency deems necessary to preserve certain information relevant to verification
activities.
- Under an initiative launched in September 1997, US Secretary of Energy Richardson, Russian Minister Adamov and I agreed at a meeting during the General Conference on further work towards the Agency's verification of fissile material removed from military programmes of the two
States.
- Member States welcomed the Agency's work on combatting illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive materials and they invited the Secretariat to develop a plan and timetable for enhancing global co-operation and co-ordination in preventing, detecting and responding to the illegal use of these
substances.
- Noting the need for strengthening radiation safety and the security of radiation sources worldwide, States overwhelmingly endorsed an IAEA action plan that calls for expert assistance to help upgrade national capabilities for regulating commercial radiation sources, in particular 'orphan sources' that have been lost or abandoned and are outside regulatory control. Also backed were Agency initiatives that would help more States build up their infrastructures to ensure safety in the transport of radioactive materials and to improve the radiological protection of patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic medical
care.
- Expressing concern over the serious problem of water shortages around the world, States underlined the urgent need for regional and global co-operation and invited the IAEA to take measures towards the development and practical application of nuclear technologies for producing drinking water economically, including seawater desalination using nuclear energy. They also requested the Agency to continue its efforts in assisting national authorities in the use of nuclear related techniques to develop and manage their water
resources.
- Member States emphasized the need to strengthen technical co-operation activities and funding for the full range of the IAEA technology transfer programme. They specifically requested the IAEA to help interested countries in assessing the role of nuclear power in the light of global environmental challenges and energy needs. Such assistance should include facilitating access to relevant information about the role of nuclear power in achieving sustainable development in developing countries and in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions through the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, and supporting national case studies and the planning of potential
projects.
- the General Conference, a Scientific Forum, open to representatives of Member States as well as to civil society and the media, was organized by the Agency to discuss the role of nuclear power in the context of sustainable development goals. The Forum featured presentations from national and international experts, and reviewed key elements of the IAEA's programmes. It is planned to place the focus during the next General Conference Scientific Forum on key issues in the management of radioactive waste. My hope is that commitments made by Member States will be reaffirmed in order to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons and ensure safe access by all to the peaceful applications of nuclear energy.
The IAEA for its part continues to be committed to those ends. More detailed information about the IAEA and its work can be found on the Agency's WorldAtom Internet site at
http://www.iaea.org |
