The creation of the IAEA was proposed at the famous “Atoms for Peace” speech given by U.S. President Eisenhower at the General Assembly of the United Nations, on 8 December 1953. Eisenhower called for the creation of an organization which would promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, to meet “the needs of agriculture, medicine and other peaceful activities” and to ensure that nuclear energy would not serve any military purpose (Eisenhower 1953). Subsequently, the “Atoms for Peace” organization within the UN was established in 1957 and given the mandate to assists its Member States to safely, securely and peacefully use nuclear science and technology. It thus contributes to international peace and security and addresses 9 out of current
Chernobyl changed the way in which Member States perceived nuclear safety. Pressing needs for closer international co-operation and IAEA’s work, and its potential to establish safety standards avoiding future accidents, or mitigating their effects, became evident. Chernobyl increased interest in the existing safety programmes and demands for safety services, especially those that had been launched or substantially expanded after the Three Mile Island accident; further, it prompted the launching of new safety programmes and projects. IAEA intensified its efforts in raising consciousness in Member States of the importance of nuclear safety: on practical steps, effort was spent on how to increase the levels of safety and radiation protection, both nationally and at particular nuclear power plants. IAEA did not wait for problems to arise, but tried to anticipate them, and took practical steps to avoid them. To achieve these aims, the IAEA directed its technical co-operation programme into nuclear safety and radiation protection
The Division of Health and Safety and Waste Disposal was initially assigned to the Department of Technical Operations which had two more divisions under it: Division of Nuclear Power and Reactors and Division of Scientific and Technical Information. In 1968 the name of the Division was changed into Division of Health, Safety and Waste Management which it kept until