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.

Though established independently of the United Nations through its own international treaty, the IAEA Statute, the IAEA reports to both the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Beginning in 1986, in response to the nuclear reactor explosion and disaster near Chernobyl, Ukraine, the IAEA redoubled its efforts in the field of nuclear safety.

Both the IAEA and its former Director General, Mr. ElBaradei, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.

Unlike most other specialized international agencies, the IAEA does much of its work with the Security Council, and not with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

The structure and functions of the IAEA are defined by its founding document, the IAEA Statute ( see below ).

The IAEA is raising money to help efforts by its Member States to save lives and to reduce suffering of cancer victims.

The Board, in its five yearly meetings, is responsible for making most of the policy of the IAEA.

Article II of the IAEA Statute defines the Agency's twin objectives as promoting peaceful uses of atomic energy and "< nowiki > ensur </ nowiki >, so far as it is able, that assistance provided by it or at its request or under its supervision or control is not used in such a way as to further any military purpose.

" To do this, the IAEA is authorized in Article III. A. 5 of the Statute " to establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that special fissionable and other materials, services, equipment, facilities, and information made available by the Agency or at its request or under its supervision or control are not used in such a way as to further any military purpose ; and to apply safeguards, at the request of the parties, to any bilateral or multilateral arrangement, or at the request of a State, to any of that State's activities in the field of atomic energy.

The IAEA classifies safety as one of its top three priorities, yet is spending only 8. 9 percent of its 352 million-euro ($ 469 million ) regular budget in 2011 on making plants secure from accidents.

The IAEA itself says that, beginning in 1986, in response to the nuclear reactor explosion and disaster near Chernobyl, Ukraine, the IAEA redoubled its efforts in the field of nuclear safety.

If the Board recommends approval, and the General Conference approves the application for membership, the State must then submit its instrument of acceptance of the IAEA Statute to the United States, which functions as the depositary Government for the IAEA Statute.

Japan strongly supports the U. S. in its efforts to encourage Pyongyang to abide by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ).

Jordan is an active member of the UN and several of its specialized and related agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO ), International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ), and World Health Organization ( WHO ).

Mr. 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.

According to Pierre Goldschmidt, former deputy director general and head of the department of safeguards at the IAEA, and Henry D. Sokolski, Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, some other instances of safeguards noncompliance reported by the IAEA Secretariat ( South Korea, Egypt ) were never reported to the Security Council because the IAEA Board of Governors never made a formal finding of non-compliance.

The Middle East department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ( FCO ) in the United Kingdom stated in early 2006 that it is widely understood that “ Iran ’ s program, which was kept secret from the IAEA for 18 years, became public knowledge largely because of revelations of the NCRI, and this led to heightened international concern .” At the same time Michael Axworthy, former head of the Iran section at the FCO, claimed that the NCRI is a " tightly disciplined front-organization for the MEK and deemed them unreliable.

Pierre Goldschmidt, former head of the department of safeguards at the IAEA, has called on the Board of Governors to adopt generic resolutions which would apply to all states in such circumstances and has argued " political considerations played a dominant role in the board ’ s decision " to not make a formal finding of non-compliance.

On July 2, 2009, Mr. Yukiya Amano of Japan was elected as the Director General for the IAEA, defeating Abdul Samad Minty of South Africa and Luis E. Echávarri ‎ of Spain.

The Board makes recommendations to the General Conference on IAEA activities and budget, is responsible for publishing IAEA standards and appoints the Director General subject to General Conference approval ( IAEA Fundamentals 2005 ).

Any of the other IAEA organs, the Director General, the Board and member states can table issues to be discussed by the General Conference ( IAEA Primer ).

The Director General oversees six departments that do the actual work in carrying out the policies of the IAEA: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Safety and Security, Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Safeguards, Technical Cooperation, and Management.

In April 2009, reports surfaced that North Korea has become a " fully fledged nuclear power ", an opinion shared by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.

Dr. Ower Villegas, Nuclear Physicist and ex Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA.

In his Introductory Statement to the IAEA Board of Governors on 2008-03-03, the Director General stated that he could not provide an update on the disabling of the facilities, as it was not undertaken by the IAEA.

* Yukiya Amano-diplomat, Director of IAEA

At the Multan meeting, Bhutto also appointed nuclear engineer, Munir Ahmad Khan, as chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission ( PAEC ), who, until then, had been working as Director at the Nuclear Power and Reactor Division of the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ), in Vienna, Austria.

But while the amounts of radioactive iodine particles detected in the soil at Iitate village appeared to be declining from high levels, the overall situation at Fukushima remained very serious ," with IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano's comment " It would take more time than people think.

On 3 July 2009, the Board of Governors voted to appoint Yukiya Amano " by acclamation ," and IAEA General Conference in September 2009 approved.

The IAEA as an autonomous organization is not under direct control of the UN, but the IAEA does report to both the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

The IAEA has three main bodies: the Board of Governors, the General Conference, and the Secretariat.

* 1942 – Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian IAEA director, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

The IAEA report by Mohamed El Baradei stated that Iraq " has provided the necessary level of cooperation to enable ... activities to be completed efficiently and effectively ".

* U. N. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei reiterates a statement he made on March 31 that only the UN IAEA has a mandate to search out and destroy any nuclear weapons or parts of a nuclear weapons program found in Iraq.

The next day, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei announced the UN's confirmation that the reactor had been shut down.

ElBaradei says, " Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded ... that these documents, which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger, are in fact not authentic.

The IAEA, headed by Hans Blix and assistant director Mohammed ElBaradei, rejects recommendations to destroy the stocks, opting rather to monitor them.

* January 9-Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA director, reports publicly on Al Qa ' qaa's HMX stores to the Security Council.

There are three known cores which were unloaded in 1994 ( under IAEA supervision in accordance with the Agreed Framework ), 2005, and 2007.

On October 8, 2008, IAEA inspectors were forbidden by the North Korean government to conduct further inspections of the site.

All fuel rods from the 5 MWe Experimental Nuclear Power Plant and nuclear material generated by the disabling of the Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Plant were under IAEA containment and surveillance.

On 8 October 2008, IAEA inspectors were forbidden by the North Korean government to conduct further inspections of the site.

India has also built a number of reactors, not under IAEA safeguards, that were derived from the CANDU design and are used for power generation.

" An IAEA team at Al Qa ' qaa began inventorying known explosive materials from the past nuclear programme that were previously under the control of the IAEA.

* February 14-Mohamed Elbaradei reports to the Security Council that 32 tonnes of the HMX, previously under IAEA seal, were moved by Iraq between the two inspection regimes.

* October 10-Iraq Ministry of Science & Technology writes to IAEA: " We would like to inform you that the following materials ... registered under the IAEA custody were lost after 9-4-2003, through the theft and looting of the governmental installations due to lack of security.

The explosives, considered dangerous by the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ), were certified by UN weapons inspectors to be inside facilities whose doors were fastened with chains and the United Nations ' seal, at the Al Qa ' qaa industrial complex in Iraq in 2003.

Pearson's story provoked skepticism as it came the morning after new videotape surfaced indicating that the explosives were still at the base after Saddam's fall ; the videotape ( from April 18, 2003 ) shows what appeared to be high explosives still in barrels bearing IAEA seals.

" Although IAEA inspectors were unable to inspect the site themselves due to the US ban on their presence, they were able to obtain commercial satellite imagery in late 2003 that showed severe damage to the facility.

However, the bunker nearest where the trucks were parked are not any of the nine bunkers identified by the IAEA as containing the missing explosive stockpiles.

In August 2004, South Korea revealed the extent of its highly secretive and sensitive nuclear research programs to the IAEA, including some experiments which were conducted without the obligatory reporting to the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) called for by South Korea's safeguards agreement.

As of April 2006, only five AHRs were operating according to the IAEA Research Reactor database.