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Paper Abstract: Changing role of U.N. agency in preventing spread of nuclear weapons. History, functions, detection of violations. Paper Introduction: THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE IAEA This research paper deals with the changing role of the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations (IAEA) with particular reference to the problem of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Its thesis is that the IAEA plays an important role in preventing the spread of such weapons, but that it labors under numerous handicaps, including inadequate funding, uncertain political direction and, in the case of the Iraqi inspections, internal mismanagement. Basic Facts Concerning IAEA Headquartered in Vienna, IAEA was founded in 1957 as an outgrowth of Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace Plan of 1953. Under its enabling statute, it was authorized to: "establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. As of August, 1994, IAEA had 121 members, 35 of which are representedon its Board of Governors on a rotating basis (Fialka, 1994, p. or engaged in outright smuggling" (Spector, 1987, p. (1993, 1 February). IAEA board to consider proposals onsafeguards. The reason for this expansion in IAEA's detection activities is aseries of shocks received by the world with respect to theretofore covertwar-making nuclear developments in India, Pakistan, Iraq, North Korea andpossibly Iran. Thompson, Gordon and Burkenhas, Jack. The United States and others exerted strong pressures on bothcountries not to proceed to the weapons stage. Stirring the west's post waralphabet soup. (1988). Kay also reported his findings over the head ofhis superiors to the UN Special Commission in charge of Iraq (Milhollin,1993, pp. IAEA has no authority overnon-signatory states. Or, as Dr. Hans Blix, the Director General of IAEAstated in October, 1994: "The pendulum had swung from expectations of a newinternational order to moral indignation over the lack of effective actionin national and regional conflicts around the world" (IAEA, 1995, p. This discovery largely came about because an Iraqi defectorrevealed the existence of this capability to Western intelligence agencies.IAEA had inspected Iraq's facilities before the war, found nothing untowardand rated Iraq's co-operation as exemplary. In Iran, IAEA inspectors did not visit undeclared sites. (1993, 2 November). materials, services, equipment and facilities made available by the Agency are not used . . Bombs away. The new arms race the Iraqibomb. (1993, 28 February). to further any military purpose" (Elliott, 1989, p. 336). 51-54). According to Milhollin, the revelation of Iraq's nuclear treacherywould not have happened even then, if an American member of the IAEAinspection team, David Kay, had not violated IAEA policies by conductinga surprise inspection of facilities not previously not previouslydeclared by Iraq to IAEA. It should continueto inspect aggressively suspect countries. 51). 254).Bundy (1988) and others have criticized this charter for being too narrow(p. A 18). References Bundy, McGeorge. Cambridge: BallingerPublishing Company. 2). The comparable number of facilitiesinspected in 1985 was approximately 514 in 51 countries (Spector, 1987, p.245). As Milhollin says, "all thattime, Saddam was running a vast A-bomb program under their [IAEA's] nose"(1993, p. Going nuclear. New Republic, 13. India and Pakistan havesince partially submitted to IAEA safeguards. Nuclearproliferation and world order. News Briefs, 1 , 1-6. . IAEA. . In 1976, France supplied Iraq with a large light-water reactor whichhad enriched uranium as fuel and could have been used to produce weaponsgrade plutonium. Once a nation makes the investment in a large civilian reactor, itcan proceed to the next step provided it has facilities to enrich naturaluranium into U 238 or to reprocess U 238 into plutonium (P 239). Unfortunately, as Melloan (1992)has pointed out, "ethnic nationalism and irredentist claims have reasserted themselves. News Briefs, 1 , 1-6. (1994, 23 August). IAEA. (1994 November). Thompson, Gordon. 1). There, it discovered on its own that North Korea had probably produced much moreplutonium by reprocessing spent fuel than it had declared (IAEA, 1994, p.1). Melloan, George. IAEA played amajor role in detecting the 1986 Chernobyl-4 nuclear accident and indeveloping remedial conventions and measures to improve safety proceduresin the former Soviet bloc. (1989). The arms control,disarmament and military security dictionary. In recent years, China, another non-signatory, hasvoluntarily placed certain of its nuclear facilities under IAEAsafeguards. A 18). Washington Post, A 13 and A 16. IAEA. Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Libya and South Africa, whichpreferred to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs rather than to turn itover to a new (black) government, have all submitted to the IAEAsafeguards regime. Nuclear inspectors check sites inIran. After the Gulf War, IAEA eventually discovered thatIraq had developed a significant nuclear weapons capability by usingoutdated calutron uranium enrichment equipment which had survived thebombing. IAEA has a critical but nonethelesslimited role in that effort. Security within the inspection team was lax (Milhollin, 1993,pp. IAEA says its plutonium thresholdfor making nuclear bombs is too high. . Finally,after the CIA alleged that Iran had an active nuclear weapons program, IAEAin February, 1992, visited two undeclared sites. In the case of North Korea, which had agreed to IAEA inspections in1992, then threatened to withdraw from NPT in mid-1994 before a freeze inplace of its nuclear program was negotiated with the United States, IAEAmoved with greater alacrity and persistence than it did in Iraq. These have been supplemented in recent years by active co-operationof IAEA with the intelligence agencies of the nuclear states, includingtheir vital reconnaissance satellite capabilities. Raphael, Therese. As the emphasis of IAEA has shifted away from support ofpeaceful nuclear development to the monitoring of weapons programs, someknowledgeable observers, such as nuclear scientist Gordon Thompson, havealleged that there is an inherent conflict between the two activities andthat IAEA should shed its non-military related functions (Thompson andBurkenhas, 1992, p. A 4). Its thesis is thatthe IAEA plays an important role in preventing the spread of such weapons,but that it labors under numerous handicaps, including inadequate funding,uncertain political direction and, in the case of the Iraqi inspections,internal mismanagement. Basic Facts Concerning IAEA Headquartered in Vienna, IAEA was founded in 1957 as an outgrowth ofEisenhower's Atoms for Peace Plan of 1953. The activities of IAEA are part of a broader effort to prevent thesurreptitious acquisition by a NNWS of nuclear weapons capability, whichin turn is supportive of the effort to achieve what former President Bushand others have termed a new world order. A 4). . Its functions need to be properly funded. A gutsy nuclear inspector is muzzled. Christian Science Monitor, 18.----------------------- 9 Wall Street Journal, A 13. 246). Israel still holds out. The central challenge facing the global community is, as Bundy (1988)put it, "to find ways to limit the spread of nuclear weapons to othercountries, and even to non- governmental groups --revolutionaries,terrorists or blackmailers"(p. New York Times, E 14. Under its enabling statute, itwas authorized to: "establish and administer safeguards designed to ensure that special fissionable . IAEA was also charged with assisting signatories with civilianatomic energy research and development, helping less developed nations toobtain nuclear power plants, encouraging scientific exchanges andestablishing nuclear safety standards. . Danger and survival. This facility was destroyed by the 1981 air raid onIraq's Osiraq reactor. Its Board of Governorscurrently has under consideration a series of staff proposals forintensifying the role of IAEA in monitoring illicit trafficking in nuclearmaterials and radioactive sources (IAEA, 1995, p. Pakistan followedsuit. (1991, 28 October). In fact,using a reactor supplied by Canada, India had begun and continued throughthe 198 's to advance its nuclear weapons capabilities. (1995, March April). Glynn, Patrick. inspections of Iraq havedramatically exposed the inherent weaknesses of the IAEA system" (1991, p.13). As of August, 1994, IAEA had 2 trainedinspectors conducting approximately 1 nuclear facilities in over 6 countries (Raphael, 1993, p. A 13). Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. by nations that, seekingto build or expanded nuclear weapons capabilities, have exploited loopholes. . IAEA analyzes effects of U.S.-DPRK agreedframework. Kay was given a special commendation and then was forcedto retire (Raphael, 1993, p. Its surveillancetechniques have become increasingly more sophisticated; and its standardsfor ascertaining the existence of weapons levels of plutonium have beentightened (Fialka, 1994, p. As Glynn (1991) complained, "U.N. (1992, 22 December). E 14). These exportcontrols "have been repeatedly circumvented . It found nothingsuspicious but was criticized by some in the West as being "overlycredulous about Tehran's intentions" (Coll, 1993, pp. 47-48). Conclusion IAEA's activities have contributed to world security by reducinguncertainty. A 3, 13 and 16). IAEA came under severe criticism in the United States andelsewhere. As a result of IAEA's experience with theIraqi nuclear program, which is discussed below, special or unannouncedinspections have been added to IAEA's repertoire. Wall Street Journal, A 4. The firstshock the world received was the announcement by India, a non-NPTsignatory, in 1974 that it had made a peaceful nuclear explosion. IAEA also has no jurisdiction over the export of nuclear equipmentand materials which is regulated by the nuclear powers, principally theUnited States, which has been the most aggressive enforcer of exportcontrols, and the 15 nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which includesCanada, Great Britain, France, Japan, West Germany and Russia. (1993, 1 February). Its authority to conduct theseactivities is derived from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of NuclearWeapons (NPT), which went into force in 197 and the companion 1967 Treatyof Tlateloco which covers Latin America. Under the NPT, IAEA was designatedas the primary agency to establish nuclear safeguard procedures underbilateral treaties it negotiates with treaty signatory states. Milhollin, Gary. New Yorker, 47-56. These latter activities have beensuccessfully carried out by IAEA and are non-controversial. New York: RandomHouse. 293), but over time the IAEA has become the international agencyresponsible for establishing safeguards to "deter the diversion of nuclearmaterials from peaceful uses to military uses through the risk of timelydetection" (Spector, 1987, p. 259-26 ). Elliott, Jeffrey M. World atomic agency needsbeefing up. and Reginald, Robert. . Dr. Blix's speech to Chilean foreignministry. 18 and Thompson, 1993, p. 293). Spector, Leonard S. (1995, March April). The Role of IAEA in Detecting Treaty Violations The basic nuclear safeguards administered by IAEA consist ofautomatic monitors, surveillance cameras and inspection visits to nuclearsites. Wall StreetJournal, A 18. Coll, Steve. Fialka, John. THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE IAEA This research paper deals with the changing role of the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency of the United Nations (IAEA) with particular referenceto the problem of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Under theNPT, the non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS) agreed not to acquire or tomanufacture nuclear weapons or explosive devices and not to assist otherNNWS to do so (Elliott, 1989, pp. This has led to an extensive closingthe barn door exercise by IAEA which has since recommended to its Boardgreater use of surprise inspections of undeclared sites and othermeasures. News Briefs, 9, 1-6. Instead of a New World Order, there is a great deal ofdisorder" (p. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.