The Budget for the IAEA

Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has repeated warnings concerning the tightening finances at the IAEA. The Board had not by mid June adopted the IAEA's 2008/9 budget, which proposed a 2% budgetary increase. ElBaradei believes there has been a "gradual erosion" of the IAEA's ability to perform critical functions. He said on 11 June:

"Even with the proposed budget, the Agency's financial situation remains vulnerable, and we still fall short of what is needed to carry out our mission in an effective manner. Significant additional resources are still sorely needed."

Jurnalo reports in more depth:

"But my colleagues and I cannot sit here and tell you that the agency is able to fulfil its functions if in fact it cannot. "

"The safeguards function is being eroded over time. Today we cannot consistently do environmental sampling analysis ourselves due in part to the unreliability of an instrument that is 28-years-old."

The situation with regards to nuclear safety was equally dire, he added. If a Chernobyl-type accident occurred, the IAEA's incident and emergency centre would be hard pressed to carry out its functions.

ElBaradei's words come at a time when North Korea is slowly moving ahead with implementing a deal struck in February to dismantle its nuclear programme and the international community is trying to find a solution for Iran's refusal to heed UN calls to stop enriching uranium.......

According to diplomat sources the IAEA originally pushed for an 8. 5 per cent increase in its 283. 6 million euro (381 million dollars) annual budget for 2008-09. A number of member states, however, among them most EU states and Japan insist on a zero real growth budget for the agency.

US officials did not comment on their position, but stressed that the United States paid a 25-per-cent share of the IAEA's budget, more than for any other UN organization.

Comment: I don't follow the IAEA budget, but it seems to me that the organization and its staff can and should be an important element in the global effort to avoid the proliferation of nuclear weapons. I hope that in the effort to save money we do not create undue risks! JAD