The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) promotes the peace, health, and prosperity of the people of the world through the use of atomic (nuclear) energy. The IAEA is independent of the United Nations but reports to the United Nations General Assembly, and if violations involving nuclear materials are detected, it reports to the U.N. Security Council (Fischer, 1997). The agency, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, has over twenty-two hundred trained personnel and their support staff. Member nations pay a fee each year as part of their membership but there is also a voluntary fund, the Technical Cooperation Fund, that is used especially in developing countries. The mission of the IAEA is based on three work areas: safety and security, science and technology, and safeguards and verification. In the safety and security area, the work is focused on helping countries develop standards and procedures for nuclear safety and security. That involves training sessions for untrained personnel, meetings for experts to share information, and planning sessions and training for emergencies. IAEA's budget is geared to the sharing of information with anyone needing nuclear information.

The science and technology area works toward the use of peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology to solve problems in health, poverty, pollution, and other areas of life. The work can be described in three components: technical cooperation, research and development, and energy and electricity. The technical cooperation includes expert advice, personnel, materials, and equipment to support projects that benefit people in developing countries socially or economically. The research and development includes not only the joint research done with IAEA, but also the support of research by different groups all over the world. Any area in which nuclear technology can be valuable is researched but issues in health, environment, poverty, and food are the main focus points.

The energy and electricity area of work includes dealing with the energy needs of a country. If the needs can be met with nuclear power, IAEA provides support in equipment, personnel, training, and materials. Ideas that are innovative are especially encouraged in this work. In 2004 IAEA developed the Program of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) to aid developing countries in cancer detection and treatment using radioisotope and other nuclear techniques.

Safeguards and verification is the area of IAEA's mission that is most important for world peace. For over fifty years, IAEA has monitored the use of nuclear materials all over the world. The monitoring is not only to check that countries are not using nuclear materials to build weapons, but also that the nuclear materials used in a peaceful manner are used, stored, and secured in a manner that causes no chance of radiation exposure to humans. The United Nations Security Council has requested that IAEA keep a watch on Iran and its use of nuclear materials (U.S. Congress. House, 2001). The IAEA and its director were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

The use of nuclear energy to generate electricity does not generate greenhouse gases to cause global warming. It does not generate smog-producing materials. The use of nuclear energy should not cause any change in the climate unless a disaster spreads radiation into the atmosphere. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the IAEA increased its focus on nuclear safety.

References

1. Fischer, David. History of the International Atomic Energy Agency: The First Forty Years. Vienna, Austria: International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997.

2. U.S. Congress. House. Committee on International Relations. Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. The Role of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Safeguarding Against Acts of Terrorism. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2001.

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