Zahlen, bitte! 350 inspectors for global nuclear safety: the IAEA
The IAEA promotes the peaceful and safe use of nuclear energy globally and curbs the spread of nuclear weapons – sometimes more, sometimes less successful.
On July 29, 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was founded under the umbrella of the United Nations. Prior to this, the "International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy" had met in Geneva in 1955, at which the then nuclear powers USA, Soviet Union, Great Britain and France presented their plans for the civilian use of nuclear energy.
Even earlier, in his "Atoms for Peace" speech, US President Eisenhower had tried to convince the world of the peaceful use of nuclear energy. At the time, it was believed that uranium supplies were extremely scarce. Eisenhower proposed a kind of bank from which states could borrow nuclear fissile material for peaceful purposes and which would thus control the amount of nuclear technology – Only a few states wanted to participate.
With around 2,500 employees and a budget of 384 million euros, the Organization for the Monitoring of Atomic Energy is not only the largest of its kind, but since 1997 has had more far-reaching powers than its counterpart, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). With the founding of the IAEA, the right step – was taken in the middle of the Cold War – to establish an international institution to monitor nuclear technology.
Today, the IAEA has 178 member states. 350 inspectors worldwide monitor the enrichment of uranium 235 to a level of 20 percent for use in nuclear power plants. A dedicated research laboratory near Vienna, the headquarters of the IAEA, specializes in analysing lubricant samples secured near nuclear facilities to check for evidence of weapons-grade fissile material. The IAEA reports directly to the United Nations (UN).
(Image:Â IAEA)
Promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy as a source of prosperity
In accordance with its statute to "accelerate and enhance the contribution of nuclear energy to peace, health and prosperity worldwide", the IAEA's remit has expanded considerably over the course of its history. The original central task of promoting the use of nuclear energy was changed in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 that was subsequently adopted called for a supervisory authority. The treaty obliged all non-nuclear weapon states to submit all fissile material in their possession to the IAEA's verification measures (safeguards).
So-called inspectors were to check the enrichment of uranium to determine whether the production of highly enriched uranium for the construction of nuclear bombs was possible. The next expansion of tasks took place after the Chernobyl reactor accident in 1986, which resulted in the IAEA inspecting the technical safety of reactors.
The year 1991 brought a drastic break in the work of the IAEA inspectors. Iraq was secretly operating further facilities for the production or enrichment of weapons-grade uranium in addition to the nuclear facilities that had been officially visited by inspectors and not objected to. After the second Gulf War, traces of uranium were found in the clothing of people who had been taken hostage to nuclear facilities.
Unannounced inspections possible at any time
Thirty-five inspectors were hastily sent to Iraq together with a specially appointed UN commission to visit and, if necessary, destroy these facilities (PDF file). In response to this mishap, the IAEA's verification measures were tightened: inspectors can appear unannounced if there are grounds for suspicion and can also demand access to facilities that are still under construction. They are also allowed to secure samples of lubricants in the vicinity of the facilities.
(Image:Â CC BY-SA 2.5, Blankmap-World6.svg)
With the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the IEAO's remit expanded once again when the danger of "dirty bombs" was discussed. The IAEA launched a program on how countries can be helped to secure radioisotope sources. "Several thousand of these sources are scattered all over the world, in research facilities, hospitals, industrial plants or lonely measuring stations. Completely neglected for decades, they are now coming under scrutiny as a possible source of radiological weapons for terrorists," wrote political scientist Harald MĂĽller in his report on the development of the IAEA (PDF file).
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Nobel Peace Prize for the IAEA in 2005
In 2005, the IAEA, together with its then Director General El Baradei, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – to great acclaim worldwide. It took less than five years for it to become known that ElBaradei had been wiretapped by the then Bush administration because it found his attitude towards Iran and its nuclear program too lenient. As a reminder, the Stuxnet attack against Iran's uranium enrichment centrifuges caused quite a stir at the time.
In 2015, Iran accepted a nuclear deal and agreed to modify its nuclear program so that it could not build nuclear bombs. During US President Donald Trump's first term in office, the USA withdrew from this nuclear agreement and imposed new sanctions. This has now been extended in his second term. Following attacks by Israel and the USA on Iran and its nuclear enrichment facilities, the Iranian government suspended cooperation with the IAEA at the beginning of July 2025.
The inspectors had to leave the country and can only resume their inspections once the safety of the facilities and that of Iranian nuclear scientists is guaranteed. The current IAEA Director General had clearly condemned the attacks: "I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances."
In his book "The Physics of Invisible Dimensions", physicist Michio Kaku describes the uranium barrier. It is based on the danger when type 0 civilizations discover element 92 (uranium) and its explosive power according to the Kardashov scale.
"This suggests that in the five to ten billion year history of our galaxy, numerous type 0 civilizations have emerged, but that they all discovered element 92 at some point. If the technical capabilities of such a civilization left its social development far behind, then there was a high probability that the civilization itself would be destroyed in a nuclear war with the rise of hostile nation states. Should we live long enough to reach nearby stars in our section of the Milky Way, we may discover the sad remains of numerous dead civilizations that fought out their national passions, personal jealousies and racial conflicts with nuclear weapons."
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