• After US bombing raids on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi appealed for immediate access to the targeted sites to assess the damage that is likely “very significant”.

• Grossi, who addressed an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on June 22, insisted that the agency’s weapons inspectors should return to Iran’s nuclear sites and account for their stockpiles.

• There is particular concern about 400 kg of uranium enriched to 60 per cent by Iran.

• Under the terms of a 2015 nuclear deal with the international community — Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran is permitted to enrich the naturally occurring radioactive material to less than 4 per cent.

• Craters are now visible at the Fordow site, Iran’s main location for enriching uranium at 60 per cent, indicating the use of ground-penetrating munitions, Grossi said.

• Taking into account the highly explosive payload used in the US attacks, “very significant damage is expected to have occurred” to the highly sensitive centrifuge machinery used to enrich uranium at Fordow.

• Fordow is one of several nuclear-related sites across Iran that are known to have been damaged in the strikes by the United States, including those in Esfahan, Arak and Tehran.

Why striking nuclear facilities risks catastrophe?

• IAEA safety experts have warned repeatedly that armed attacks on nuclear infrastructure — enrichment facilities or reactors — risk damaging containment systems and could lead to the release of dangerous levels of radioactive or toxic materials.

• Even well-fortified facilities are not immune from structural or systemic failure when subjected to extreme external force, such as missile strikes.

• The potential consequences include localised chemical exposure and far-reaching radioactive contamination, depending on the nature of the site and the strength of its defensive barriers.

• At enrichment or conversion facilities, the primary hazard often comes from uranium hexafluoride (UF₆). If struck and exposed to moisture, this radioactive compound of uranium and fluorine can break down into hydrogen fluoride — a highly toxic gas that can cause burns and respiratory damage.

• Iran’s nuclear programme includes a range of facilities with varying risk profiles.

• The Bushehr nuclear power plant, Iran’s only operational commercial reactor, remains undamaged but contains significant radioactive material under IAEA safeguards.

• Enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow are fortified and underground, limiting the spread of radiation despite recent damage. However, conversion sites such as Esfahan involve uranium hexafluoride (UF₆), raising the risk of toxic chemical exposure if containment is breached.

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 intergovernmental 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 180 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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