International Atomic Energy Agency

1. International Atomic Energy Agency Miranda Melhado and Daniel Schwapp

2. The Committee • The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an independent organization • created in 1957 • Led by Yukiya Amano • 6 Deputy Director Generals • 2,300 staff members from more than 100 countries

3. The Focus • safety and security • science and technology • safeguards and verification

4. Introduction • Atomic Energy can be very useful and very powerful • It has many uses such as: • Medical Use (cancer, x-rays, etc.) • Dangerous Weapons • Energy • More than 30 countries use nuclear energy to power devices.

5. Background • Discovered in 1895 but was only really understood in 1939. • People see that what helped win World War it was the nuclear weapons. • At first they were supposed to be used by the navy and submarine. • People later found out that these atomic uses are long-lasting and all of the incidents have stayed in the public eye for years.

6. Little Boy, Fat Man • The first use of nuclear weapons happened in World War II • The United States dropped a plutonium bomb on Hiroshima, Japan called “Little Boy”. The explosion was the equivalent to 15 kilotons of regular explosives. • They also dropped another bomb named “Fat Man” on Nagasaki a short time after. This was even more destructive with the power of 22 kilotons of regular explosives. • 210,000 people died by 1950. Only half of the deaths were cause by the actual explosion. The later deaths were because of disease caused by the later radiation. This showed that atomic power has lasting effects. • These explosions created mushroom clouds and widespread fires. But they also created soot and radioactive ash that spread 18 miles from the bomb site.

7. Three Mile Island • This was an incident in a nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. It was caused by a meltdown in 1979. • A radioactive gas leak cause 40,000 gallons of nuclear waste to be dumped into a near by river. • Clean up for this accident lasted 20 years • There was little exposure to the nearby cities and there were no injuries or death.

8. The Chernobyl Disaster • This disaster has been called the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history. • It occurred in the nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Radioactive material was spread throughout Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other parts of Europe in the air. • 64 deaths were caused by radiation. It is said that this is the cause of the rise of leukemia and thyroid cancer in children’s lives around that area. The cancer- related deaths continue to occur in children who were exposed to the radiation. • There have been more rules and regulations put in place to prevent leaks like this from happening again. There have been other leaks in history but none as significant.

10. FukuShima After the earthquake

11. Undeclared Nuclear Facilities in Iran