The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization and an autonomous institution within the United Nations system, headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It was established on 29 July 1957, with its Statute coming into force on that date. The IAEA's genesis was U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech on 8 December 1953, which proposed an international body to monitor nuclear resources. The organization was created to address the deep international fear of nuclear weapons proliferation while promoting the peaceful applications of nuclear technology.
The IAEA's dual objectives are defined in Article II of its Statute: to "accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity" and to "ensure... that assistance provided by it... is not used in such a way as to further any military purpose". Its core mechanism is the Safeguards system, a set of technical measures and inspections to verify that states are honoring their legal obligations to use nuclear material only for peaceful purposes. The IAEA is the international safeguards inspectorate for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which entered into force on 5 March 1970. Under Article III of the NPT, non-nuclear-weapon States must conclude a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) with the IAEA to prevent the diversion of nuclear energy to weapons.
In terms of recent changes, the IAEA published the 2025 edition of the Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, which updates the 2018 edition to reflect advances in scientific knowledge. Furthermore, Ukraine has recently proposed amendments to the IAEA Statute to create a mechanism for disqualification from decision-making for a member state that deliberately creates nuclear safety risks.