Monday, March 23, 2009

Do you know what the acronym IAEA stands for ?


The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a United Nations Agency working on scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology ( " the atom for peace" ).


It has also the responsibility to control the use of atomic energy in the world. It was created in 1953. The Director General Hans Blix of IAEA is coming from Egypt. He received the nobel peace prize in 2005. The agency employs more than 2300 persons in the world. Its Headquarters is in Vienna (Austria). It has a budget of approximately 225 million Euros per year.


The IAEA works on 3 activities:

1) The control of the spread of nuclear weapons;

2) The use of nuclear technology for development

3) The promotion of nuclear safety and security


The IAEA promotes and implement a system of agreements with countries to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. The countries that signed the «global treaty on the non proliferation of nuclear weapons" accept that their civilian nuclear program be inspected by IAEA inspectors to verify that they are not used for making nuclear bombs. There are 160 countries that have signed this treaty.


The IAEA wants to ensure that nuclear technology is used only for peaceful purpose. The IAEA also promotes the use of nuclear technology in domains such as medecine, agriculture, and industry. They have some laboratories to conduct research and training activities. For agriculture for example the IAEA recommends techniques of nuclear radiations to sterilize insects (and then release the sterile males to reduce the growth of the insect population) or to modify genetically the crops.


The IAEA makes recommendations to define standards and regulations for the safety of nuclear plants. They advise also on the design and operations of these plants. They help also the countries in the world to combat the risks of nuclear terrorism and to be prepared should a nuclear accident happen somewhere.


If you want to know more about the IAEA, you can visit their web site that is full of information!

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