The International Atomic Energy Agency's limited budget could keep it from carrying out its mandate to prevent proliferation, the organization's chief warned yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 17).
Some members of the agency's 35-nation governing board have sought to eliminate additions to the agency's funding, delaying a planned 11 percent budget increase for months. The board failed again this week to agree on a new budget.
"If you come to me and say in your wisdom to cut here and cut there, I and my colleagues will not assume responsibility if in a couple of years we see another Chernobyl (nuclear plant meltdown) or a nuclear terrorist or a clandestine nuclear (weapons) program," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei told board members in a closed meeting.
"What you are reaping today is what you have sewn for the past 20 years (of tight funding)," he said in a recording obtained by Reuters. "The whole idea that we now have to borrow money or stretch out our hat and say please give us money to do security, safety, is really a bastardization of an international organization that is supposed to be a spearhead of peace and security."
ElBaradei is scheduled to leave the agency in November after 12 years as director general (see GSN, June 12).
"We will not assume responsibility for a budget which I know is not ... right. I will be cheating world public opinion to create the impression that we are doing what we're supposed to do, when we know we don't have the money to do it," he said.
The United States, the agency's largest contributor, yesterday indicated it would increase its funding by 20 percent, a $10 million boost. U.S. President Barack Obama has called doubling the agency's budget over the coming four years.
ElBaradei is requesting an increased operational budget of $466.8 million in 2010, following by a slight hike in 2011.
The governing board is likely to hold an emergency session within the next several weeks in an effort to approve a budget. The agency's financial plan must also be endorsed by the IAEA General Assembly, which is expected to convene in September (Mark Heinrich, Reuters, June 16).