Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored India’s enduring commitment to safe and secure use of atomic energy for peace and development in a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

Grossi, who called on Modi, commended the country’s impeccable record as a responsible nuclear power and praised its progress in nuclear science and technology, particularly highlighting the development and deployment of indigenous nuclear power plants.

In the meeting, Modi shared India’s ambitious goals to enhance the share of environmentally friendly nuclear power generation capacity as part of its energy mix.

International Atomic Energy Agency

• Widely known as the ‘Atoms for Peace and Development’ organisation within the United Nations family, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the world’s central inter-governmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the nuclear field.

• The agency works with its Member States and multiple partners worldwide to promote the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies, contributing to international peace and security and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

• The IAEA was created in 1957 in response to the deep fears and expectations generated by the discoveries and diverse uses of nuclear technology. The agency’s genesis was US President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 8, 1953.

• The US Ratification of the Statute by President Eisenhower on July 29, 1957, marks the official birth of the IAEA.

• In October 1957, the delegates to the First General Conference decided to establish the IAEA’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

• The IAEA has 178 Member States.

• India is a founding member of IAEA.

• The IAEA has also two regional offices located in Toronto and Tokyo, as well as two liaison offices in New York City and Geneva. The agency runs laboratories specialised in nuclear technology in Vienna, Seibersdorf and Monaco.

• The IAEA’s policy-making bodies decide on the agency’s programmes and budgets. They comprise the General Conference of all Member States and the 35-member Board of Governors. The General Conference convenes annually at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, typically in September. The Board meets five times per year, also in Vienna.

Director General of IAEA

• IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi assumed office on December 3, 2019. In September 2023 the IAEA’s 67th General Conference approved by acclamation his re-appointment to serve a second four-year term of office starting December 3, 2023.

• Grossi is a diplomat with almost 40 years of experience in the fields of non-proliferation and disarmament. In 2013, he was appointed ambassador of Argentina to Austria and Argentine Representative to the IAEA and other Vienna-based international organisations.

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