ATOMIC ENERGY

The UN and the nuclear age were born almost
simultaneously. The horror of the Second World War,
culminating in the nuclear blasts at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, brought home the need to address the
nuclear issue. By its first resolution, the General
Assembly established the UN Atomic Energy
Commission to deal with the problems raised by the
discovery of atomic energy. And a landmark address by
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953,
“Atoms for Peace”, led to the establishment in 1957 of
the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA).
Today, 439 nuclear power reactors produce
approximately 16 per cent of the world’s electricity. In
nine countries, over 40 per cent of energy production
comes from nuclear power. The IAEA, an international
organization in the UN family, fosters the safe, secure
and peaceful uses of atomic energy and helps ensure
the use of nuclear technology for sustainable
development.
Under the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons ( NPT ), the IAEA conducts on-site
inspections to ensure that nuclear materials are used
only used for peaceful purposes. Prior to the 2003 Iraq
war, its inspectors played a key role in uncovering and
eliminating Iraq’s banned weapons programmes and
capabilities. In 2005, the Agency and its Director
General, Mohamed ElBaradei were awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy
from being used for military purposes and to ensure that
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the
safest possible way.”
The UN Conference on Disarmament, the sole
multilateral negotiating forum on disarmament,
produced the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty ,
which was adopted in 1996. The Office for
Disarmament Affairs promotes nuclear disarmament and
non-proliferation. The Committee on the Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space produced the 1992 Principles on the use
of nuclear power sources in outer space . The UN
Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation
reports on the levels and effects of exposure to ionizing
radiation, providing the scientific basis for protection
and safety standards worldwide.
Addressing the danger of nuclear terrorism, the UN has
also produced the Convention on the Physical Protection
of Nuclear Material (Vienna, 1980), and the International
Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear
Terrorism (2005).