IAEA

INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: AN OVERVIEW

Established: 1957 The IAEA Secretariat is headquartered in Membership: 165 states Vienna, Austria. Regional offices are located in Functions: The main functions of the IAEA are Geneva, Switzerland; New York, United States; to: encourage and assist research, development Tokyo, Japan; and Toronto, Canada. Scientific and practical application of atomic energy for research laboratories are based in Vienna and peaceful uses throughout the world; establish and Seibersdorf, Austria; Trieste, Italy; and Monaco. administer safeguards designed to ensure that such activity assisted by the Agency is not used Verification and Compliance: to further any military purpose; apply safeguards Verification: Under Safeguards Agreements, to relevant activities at the request of Member IAEA inspectors regularly visit nuclear facilities States; apply, under the Nuclear Non- to verify records maintained by State authorities Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other on the whereabouts of nuclear material under international treaties, mandatory comprehensive their control, to check IAEA-installed safeguards in non-nuclear weapon States instruments and surveillance equipment, and to (NNWS) Parties to such treaties. confirm physical inventories of nuclear material. These and other safeguard measures provide In carrying out its functions, the Agency independent, international verification that conducts its activities in accordance with the governments are abiding by their commitments purposes and principles of the UN Charter to to the peaceful use of nuclear technology. A promote peace and international cooperation, and precondition for the implementation of in conformity with policies of the United Nations safeguards is a formal safeguards agreement for furthering the establishment of worldwide between the Agency and the State. disarmament through safeguards.

The Agency’s safeguards system is defined There are four types of inspections: Ad Hoc (to primarily in Art. XII of the IAEA Statute, and in verify a state’s initial nuclear report), Routine the following documents: INFCIRC/66 (the most common inspections which are (designed to be applied in any state that preformed routinely), Special (supplementary concluded a Safeguards Agreement), inspections executed in unusual circumstances), INFCIRC/153 (used as a basis for agreements and finally, Safeguard Visits (inspections to with States Parties to the NPT), the Treaty for declared facilities to confirm the safeguards the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin design information). America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco), the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon The Additional Protocol is a more intensive, and Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Bangkok), the voluntary, form of safeguarding, which allows African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty for extended inspections with the most advanced (Treaty of Pelindaba), the South Pacific Nuclear technique. As a legal document, the Additional Free Zone Treaty (Treaty of Rarotonga), and the Protocol aims to provide assurances to both Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and declared and undeclared nuclear sites. Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC). Compliance: In accordance with the Statute and The IAEA is an independent international existing practice, the Board is responsible for organization that reports annually to the UN approving safeguards procedures and Safeguards General Assembly. When necessary, the IAEA Agreements, and for general supervision of the will report to the UN Security Council in regards Agency’s safeguards activities. In a case of non- to instances of members’ noncompliance of compliance with a safeguards commitment, the safeguard and security obligations. Appointed in Board of Governors of the IAEA is to call upon 2009, Yukiya Amano serves as the Director the State in question to remedy any outstanding General of the IAEA. issues; the Board will then decide on its referral

Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes © Center for Nonproliferation Studies IAEA-1 Last Update: 09/30/2015 IAEA to the UN Security Council and General Assembly. Principal organs: General Conference, Board of Governors, and the Secretariat.

Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes © Center for Nonproliferation Studies IAEA-2 Last Update: 09/30/2015