Vienna, Austria, June 2, 2008
Ernesto Zedillo presents report to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors
The Yale Center for the Study of Globalization is pleased to announce the release of the report Reinforcing the Global Nuclear Order for Peace and Prosperity: The Role of the IAEA to 2020 and Beyond. Center Director, Ernesto Zedillo, Chair of the Commission appointed by Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, presented the report to the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna on June 2.

According to the newly-released report, a reinvigorated global nuclear order featuring a greatly strengthened International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be crucial to meeting the nuclear challenges of the 21st century and to seizing the opportunities for nuclear technologies to expand their contribution to human well-being. In this context, a global resurgence in nuclear power can provide low-carbon energy for millions, but could also help spread dangerous nuclear materials and know-how. Notwithstanding the different, and in some cases opposing, views on several important topics tackled in their work, the Commissioners unanimously believe that the IAEA must be strengthened by its member states with additional authority, resources, personnel and technology.

According to the report, a "bold agenda" of steps to strengthen the IAEA and the global nuclear order will be needed to meet these challenges and seize opportunities for safe and secure nuclear growth.

"The Commissioners unanimously concluded that the world needs a stronger global nuclear order and a stronger IAEA," said Commission Chairman Ernesto Zedillo, Director of Yale's Center for the Study of Globalization and former President of Mexico.

The Commission of senior figures from countries around the world, was appointed by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to advise on what capabilities the world would need the IAEA to have in 2020 and beyond. Commission members included Ambassador Oluyemi Adeniji (Nigeria); Lajos Bokros (Hungary); Lakhdar Brahimi (Algeria); Dr. Rajagopala Chidambaram (India); Senator Lamberto Dini (Italy); Gareth Evans (Australia); Louise Frachette (Canada); Anne Lauvergeon (France); Kishore Mahbubani (Singapore); Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg (Brazil); Ambassador Pius Yasebasi Ng'Wandu (Tanzania); Senator Sam Nunn (United States); Ambassador Karl Theodor Paschke (Germany); Dr. Wolfgang Schassel (Austria); Academician Evgeny Velikhov (Russia); Professor Wang Dazhong (China); Dr. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa (Japan); and Ernesto Zedillo, Chair (Mexico).

Graham Allison, director of the Harvard Kennedy Schoo's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan, formerly India's representative on the Board of Governors, served as Executive Directors of the project. Matthew Bunn of Belfer Center's Managing the Atom Project contributed to researching and drafting the report.

"For nuclear energy to make a contribution to solving the climate challenge, there must be no accidents, no nuclear terrorism, and no cascade of nuclear proliferation," said Allison. "A strong and vibrant IAEA is indispensable for all of us."

The report, Reinforcing the Global Nuclear Order for Peace and Prosperity: The Role of the IAEA in 2020 and Beyond, highlights surging energy demand and fossil fuel prices; the need for dramatic growth in low-carbon energy supplies to cope with climate change; the urgent needs of the world's poor; continuing dangers of nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and nuclear accidents; and the slow pace of nuclear disarmament, with the continuing dangers posed by some 25,000 nuclear weapons in the world, as key challenges that must be addressed. But the commission also highlighted major opportunities for expanding both nuclear power and the use of technologies for tasks ranging from fighting disease to developing drought-resistant crops.

To maximize the benefit of nuclear technologies while minimizing their risks, the Commission called for " stronger global nuclear order," featuring "greatly expanded international cooperation and transparency, with new partnerships for nuclear energy, development, disarmament, non-proliferation, safety, and security." In particular, as nuclear energy expands, it will be crucial to ensure that it is safe, secure, and used only for peaceful purposes.

The report calls for a major boost in the IAEA's budget, noting that from 1984 to 2007 the amount of nuclear material under safeguards increased more than tenfold, while the IAEA's budget remained essentially flat (except for a modest one-time increase approved in 2003). The report recommends a one-time increase of €80 million ($$124 million) to refurbish the IAEA's safeguards lab and beef up its emergency center, along with increases to the regular annual budget of roughly €50 million ($77.5 mmillion) each year for the next several years. As the IAEA's regular budget is currently annually €289 millioon ($450 million), this would represent annual increases of 17% per year. These costs, the Commission argued, "would be insignificant compared either to the benefits to be gained or to the risks and costs of failure to act. Now is the time to choose."

The Commission called on states to negotiate binding agreements that set effective global standards for nuclear security and nuclear safety, with the IAEA playing a key role in developing those standards and providing reviews and assistance to help confirm they were being implemented.

The report calls for a series of steps to strengthen IAEA safeguards, including additional authority, money, technology, qualified personnel, information, and a strengthened safeguards culture at the Agency. The Commission recommended that the Additional Protocol become the "universal standard" for verification, and called on all states to "adopt the principle and practice of transparency in their civil nuclear activities, providing the IAEA with access to any information, locations, and individuals in their countries that may help it carry out its mission."

The report also called for expanded IAEA efforts to promote safe and secure growth of nuclear energy ­ particularly in helping states establishing nuclear power plants for the first time ensure that they will be safe and secure ­ and for aan increase in technical cooperation focused on helping states use nuclear technologies for everything from managing clean water resources to combatting insect pests. Commission Chairman Zedillo presented the Commission's key findings and recommendations to the IAEA Board of Governors on June 2. ElBaradei has scheduled an in-depth discussion of the panel's recommendations for the September meeting of the Board.

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