'Bold agenda' for future of the IAEA

Tuesday, 30 September 2008

Without further legal, political and financial resources the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would no longer be fit for purpose, Mohamed ElBaradei told the agency's general conference today.

 

Mohamed ElBaradei this morning (Image: D Calma/IAEA)

In his opening speech at the conference, ElBaradei said that the IAEA had "reached a turning point." He said that years of zero growth in funding has meant that that the IAEA is currently dependent on voluntary support for "90 percent of our nuclear security program", 30 percent in the field of nuclear safety and 15 percent for verification.

 

ElBaradei voiced his concern that it "is nearly four years since the UN Secretary General … described the IAEA as an 'extraordinary bargain'," and since then "almost nothing has changed as far as our resources and authority are concerned."

 

This "troubling dependence" has been assessed by the independent Commission of Eminent Persons, which has recommended that the Technical Cooperation Fund be increased substantially.

 

ElBaradei stated that the commission's report, published in May, "did not disappoint": the report assessed the role of the IAEA to 2020 and beyond, and gave a series of recommendations designed to facilitate the Agency's success in the future. "Better equipment, more staff and funding" will be essential to the efficacy of the IAEA.

 

The report said the financial dependence which burdens the agency is not the only obstacle to be overcome: "more legal authority", the power to negotiate "binding agreements" to counter the threat of nuclear terrorism, and greater “political commitment” will all be necessary to prevent the 'erosion of the effectiveness' of the Agency. ElBaradei also wants to put nuclear disarmament back on the agenda, warning that it had been on the back-burner for far too long.

 

ElBaradei said that making the IAEA more effective would be crucial to international security. One requirement is a one-off €80 million ($114 million) investment in updating the IAEA laboratories, which are used in safeguards tests of the highest international importance.

 

Besides powering-up the IAEA in terms of staff, equipment and budget, the commission also recommended a focus on internationalising the fuel cycle for the benefit of 'newcomer' countries entering into nuclear power generation for the first time. These international arrangements should cover both the front- and back-ends of the fuel cycle: producing reactor fuel as well as managing that fuel in the long term once it has been used and is highly radioactive.

 

"It is time to think big and to think long term," ElBaradei concluded