IAEA Budget and U.S. Contributions: In Brief

IAEA Budget and U.S. Contributions: In Brief

IAEA Budget and U.S. Contributions: In Brief
Updated April 2, 2021
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R44384

IAEA Budget and U.S. Contributions: In Brief

Introduction and Background
The United States has been a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since
the agency’s 1957 founding. The IAEA Statute was approved on October 23, 1956, by the
Conference on the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which was held at United
Nations (U.N.) headquarters.1 Article II of the Statute, which came into force on July 29, 1957,
describes the agency’s purpose:
The Agency shall seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace,
health and prosperity throughout the world. It shall ensure, so far as it is able, that assistance
provided by it or at its request or under its supervision or control is not used in such a way
as to further any military purpose.
The IAEA, an autonomous intergovernmental organization that has a relationship agreement with
the U.N., has 172 member states, including the United States.2 The agency’s missions include
promoting nuclear power, nuclear safety, nuclear security, and nuclear technology for medical and
agricultural purposes, as well as implementing safeguards agreements in more than 180
countries.3 Countries that are not members of the IAEA may still be subject to agency inspections
or receive IAEA technical assistance.
The IAEA Board of Governors has 35 member states designated and elected by the General
Conference, which consists of representatives of all members and is the IAEA’s highest
policymaking body. The board meets at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, five times per
year. The board’s roles include making recommendations to the IAEA General Conference
regarding the agency’s program and budget, as well as appointing the IAEA Director General,
with the approval of the General Conference. The General Conference meets annually to approve
the agency’s program and budget and to decide on other matters brought before it by the Board of
Governors, the Director General, and member states. Each member state is represented by one
delegate who may be accompanied by alternates and advisers. The General Conference approves
the budget as recommended by the board, or returns the budget draft with recommendations to the
board for resubmission.4
The IAEA Statute requires the agency’s Board of Governors, with General Conference approval,
to appoint the Director General, who serves for a four-year term and is the IAEA’s “chief

1 The U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent on June 18, 1957 (T.I.A.S. 3873). The International Atomic Energy
Statute was approved in P.L. 85-177, August 28, 1957 (22 U.S.C. 2021-2027).
2 The IAEA is a “related organization” of the United Nations. Its relationship is guided by an agreement signed by both
parties in 1957 (INFCIRC/11) that states, “The Agency undertakes to conduct its activities in accordance with the
Purposes and Principles of the United Nations Charter to promote peace and International co-operation, and in
conformity with policies of the United Nations furthering the establishment of safeguarded worldwide disarmament and
in conformity with any international agreements entered into pursuant to such policies.” The Director General of the
IAEA is a member of the U.N. Chief Executive Board (CEB) that comprises the heads of U.N. and U.N.-related
entities, and regularly participates in the meetings chaired by the U.N. Secretary General.
3 IAEA safeguards are designed “to provide credible assurance to the international community that nuclear material and
other specified items are not diverted from peaceful nuclear uses.” (The Safeguards System of the International Atomic
Energy Agency). The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) requires nonnuclear-weapon states parties to conclude
comprehensive IAEA safeguards agreements. Such agreements apply safeguards “on all nuclear material in all nuclear
activities in a State” (IAEA Safeguards Glossary 2001 Edition, International Nuclear Verification Series No. 3). The
NPT defines a nuclear-weapon state as “one which has manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear
explosive device” prior to January 1, 1967. These states are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United
States. All other countries are nonnuclear-weapon states.
4 For more information about the organization, structure, and programs of the IAEA, see https://www.iaea.org.
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IAEA Budget and U.S. Contributions: In Brief

administrative officer” required to perform “duties in accordance with regulations” adopted by
the board. The Director General is also “responsible for the appointment, organization, and
functioning” of the IAEA staff.5 In addition to preparing the agency’s annual budget estimate, the
Director General’s responsibilities include “providing overall policy coordination, external
relations with [IAEA] Member States and stakeholders, policy planning and strategy, as well as
coordinating the activities” of offices which “liaise with the United Nations and its agencies.”6
The current and sixth IAEA Director General, Argentinian diplomat Rafael Grossi, was appointed
in December 2019 for a term of four years.
IAEA Budget Process and 2021 Funding
According to the IAEA Statute, the board
shall apportion the expenses among members in accordance with a scale that is fixed by
the General Conference as guided by United Nations principles adopted in assessing
contributions of member states to the regular budget of the United Nations.7
The IAEA budget (typically estimated both in euros and U.S. dollars) is determined on a biannual
calendar year basis; calendar year 2020 is the first year of the 2020-2021 biennium. The IAEA
budget consists of three main parts: the regular operating budget, the Technical Cooperation
Fund, and extrabudgetary contributions. For 2021, the IAEA’s regular budget assessment is $387
million.8 The IAEA Technical Cooperation Fund (TCF) target figure for 2021 was $89.6 million.9
The Director General prepares the budget estimate and sends it to the Board of Governors. After
approving the budget, the board sends the budget to the General Conference for approval. If the
General Conference does not approve the budget, the Conference provides recommendations and
sends the budget proposal back to the board. The General Conference approves the board’s final
budget proposal. Typically, the Conference approves the following year’s budget each September.
Both General Conference and Board of Governors decisions regarding the IAEA budget require a
two-thirds majority of those present and voting.
The TCF is an IAEA technical assistance program meant to help member states share and develop
capacity in the peaceful use of nuclear science.10 The IAEA Board of Governors sets annual target
amounts for each member state’s contribution to the TCF, based on the state’s assessed portion of
the regular budget.11 The TCF provides assistance in seven areas: health and nutrition; food and
agriculture; water and the environment; industrial applications/radiation technology; energy;
nuclear knowledge development and management; and nuclear safety and security.

5 The Statute of the IAEA Article VII A and B.
6 The Statute of the IAEA Article XIV A; “Director General’s Office,” https://www.iaea.org/about/organizational-
structure/offices-reporting-to-the-director-general/director-generals-office.
7 The Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Article XIV: Finance, D. The U.N. General Assembly
negotiates a scale of assessments for the regular budget every two years based on a country’s capacity to pay. The
United States is currently assessed at 22% of the U.N. regular budget, the highest of any of the U.N. member states.
8 IAEA General Conference, Regular Budget Appropriations for 2021, GC(64)/RES/5.
9 “The Agency’s Budget Update for 2021,” IAEA, GC(64)/2.
10 For more information, see the IAEA Technical Cooperation Program website, https://www.iaea.org/services/
technical-cooperation-programme.
11 The United States’ assessment for 2021 is 22.4 million euros. IAEA General Conference, Report on Contributions
Pledged to the Technical Cooperation Fund for 2021, September 24, 2020, GC(64)/17/Rev.1.
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In addition, member states make extrabudgetary voluntary contributions to the IAEA, which are
meant to supplement the agency’s work. Such contributions may go to the Technical Cooperation
Extrabudgetary Fund, the Extrabudgetary Program Fund, or the IAEA Low-Enriched Uranium
(LEU) Fuel Bank In-kind contributions may include donation of equipment or personnel.
The extrabudgetary TCF funding supports technical cooperation projects. The Extrabudgetary
Program Fund is used to pay for specific IAEA projects. For example, 36 member states have
contributed extrabudgetary monetary and in-kind support for a program called ReNuAL, which
upgrades the IAEA Nuclear Applications Laboratories.12 The Extrabudgetary Program Fund also
includes the Nuclear Security Fund and the Peaceful Uses Initiative (PUI) fund.
The Nuclear Security Fund (NSF) is an extrabudgetary voluntary fund that supports the IAEA’s
activities to bolster member states’ nuclear security.13 Since 2009, a small portion of the Nuclear
Security program’s operating costs is part of the general IAEA budget, but the majority of funds
continue to be dependent on voluntary extrabudgetary contributions. At the February 2020
Nuclear Security Conference, member states announced $20 million in voluntary contributions to
the Nuclear Security Fund.14
The PUI fund is for high-priority safety, security, and health cooperation projects such as
providing diagnostic equipment and training assistance to help respond to disease outbreaks.15
IAEA member states may also make voluntary contributions to support additional IAEA
safeguards missions, such as monitoring Iranian implementation of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action.
The IAEA created a separate extrabudgetary fund for the Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) Fuel
Bank. Member states and the U.S. nongovernmental organization the Nuclear Threat Initiative
donated $150 million total in voluntary contributions to meet the costs of establishing the IAEA
Fuel Bank and operating it for 20 years.16 The United States contributed $49 million to this
project.
U.S. Contributions to IAEA
The United States is the largest financial contributor to the IAEA, providing an estimated $200
million annually in assessed and voluntary contributions. The share of U.S. assessed contributions
is 25.3% of the regular IAEA budget.17
Congress appropriates assessed U.S. contributions to the IAEA’ regular budget through the
Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) account in annual Department of State,
Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) appropriations bills. Table 1 highlights U.S.

12 https://www.iaea.org/about/organizational-structure/department-of-nuclear-sciences-and-applications/seibersdorf-
laboratories/renual.
13 See also GAO Report 19-429, Nuclear Security: The International Atomic Energy Agency Could Improve Priority
Setting, Performance Measures, and Funding Stabilization, July 29, 2019, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-19-429?
source=ra.
14 https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/countries-to-provide-us-20-million-to-iaea-nuclear-security-fund.
15 “Peaceful Uses Initiative,” Department of State website, https://www.state.gov/peaceful-uses-initiative/; see also
https://www.iaea.org/topics/covid-19/iaea-assistance-for-the-rapid-detection-and-management-of-covid-19.
16 https://www.iaea.org/topics/iaea-low-enriched-uranium-bank.
17 Other top IAEA contributors and their 2021-assessed rates are China (11.6%), Japan (8.2%), Germany (5.9%),
France (4.3%), United Kingdom (4.4%), Brazil (2.8%), Canada (2.6%), the Russian Federation (2.4%), and Spain
(2%). IAEA General Conference Resolution, “Scale of assessment of member states’ contributions towards the Regular
Budget for 2021,” September 2020, GC(64)/RES/8.
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assessed contributions to IAEA from FY2017 to FY2021; U.S. payments have ranged from
$101.1 to $107.5 million.
Table 1. U.S. Contributions to the IAEA’s Regular Budget Assessment,
FY2017-FY2021 Request
(current U.S. $ in thousands)
FY2017 FY2018
FY2019
FY2020
FY2021
actual actual
actual
estimate
request
101,095 108,338
104,262
104,490
107,562
Source: Department of State Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ), Appendix 1, various years.
Assessed U.S. contributions to the IAEA may vary by year for a number of reasons, including
agency budget modifications, changes to the U.S. assessment, and fluctuating exchange rates
(IAEA assessment levels are calculated based on Euros instead of dollars). At times, the United
States may be behind in its assessed payments due to the differences between the IAEA fiscal
year (January 1-December 31) and the U.S. fiscal year (October 1-September 30).18
In addition, Congress generally appropriates $15-$20 million annually for IAEA contributions
within the budgets of the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Geological Survey; the most consistent amount within
these other agencies is the approximately $10 million each year from Department of Energy
funds.19
Most U.S. voluntary contributions are provided from the Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism,
Demining, and Related Programs (NADR) account within annual SFOPS appropriations. As
shown in Table 2, since FY2017, Congress has appropriated $94.8 million per year to IAEA
through the NADR account.
Table 2. U.S. Voluntary Contributions to IAEA, FY2017-FY2021 Request
(current U.S. $ in millions)
FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020
FY2021
actual
actual
actual estimated request
94.8
94.8
94.8
94.8
88.0
Source: Department of State CBJs, SFOPS appropriations acts and explanatory statements.
The United States primarily directs its voluntary (extrabudgetary) IAEA contributions to the TCF.
According to the State Department, the United States has contributed over $240 million to that
fund since 2010.20

18 U.S. payments may also be delayed due to partially deferred payments from the 1980s, which cause a portion of the
U.S. IAEA assessment (70%) to be delayed by a year. For example, most calendar year 2019 U.S. IAEA assessments
are paid with U.S. FY2020 funds.
19 For a description of these activities, see U.S. Contributions to International Organizations, 2019, Department of
State, September 15, 2020, at https://www.state.gov/u-s-contributions-to-international-organizations/.
20 U.S. statement as delivered by Ambassador Jackie Wolcott, “IAEA Board of Governors Meeting, Agenda Item 2:
Report of the Technical Assistance and Cooperation Committee,” Vienna, Austria, November 18, 2020.
https://vienna.usmission.gov/iaea-bog-u-s-on-the-report-of-the-tacc/.
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IAEA Budget and U.S. Contributions: In Brief

The Peaceful Use Initiative (PUI) Fund, which the IAEA established in 2010, is another major
recipient of U.S. extrabudgetary funds. The United States announced at the 2010 NPT Review
Conference that it would contribute $50 million over five years to PUI. In 2015, the United States
renewed this pledge for another five years. In November 2020, the United States announced that
it would provide an additional $50 million to the PUI Fund through 2024.21
Section 307 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, requires the United States to
withhold the U.S. proportionate share for certain IAEA programs or projects in Cuba. The United
States is not required to withhold funds for programs or projects that provide for the
discontinuation, dismantling, or safety inspection of nuclear facilities or related materials, or for
the IAEA application of safeguards in Cuba. Section 307 does not require withholding of U.S.
contributions with respect to programs for Iran.22

Author Information

Paul K. Kerr
Luisa Blanchfield
Specialist in Nonproliferation
Specialist in International Relations

Mary Beth D. Nikitin

Specialist in Nonproliferation

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21 Ibid. The United States has contributed $117 million in voluntary contributions to the PUI.
22 Email communications with Department of State officials, February 4, 2016.
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