Iran
Bonab Atomic Energy Research Center
About
Established in 1995, the Bonab Energy Research Center conducts research on nuclear technology for agricultural applications. 1 In July 1997, IAEA Director General Hans Blix visited the facility and did not detect any undeclared activities. 2 The center is one of the main research facilities associated with the AEOI, and suspicions persist that it may conduct secret nuclear research. 3
Glossary
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- IAEA: Founded in 1957 and based in Vienna, Austria, the IAEA is an autonomous international organization in the United Nations system. The Agency’s mandate is the promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy, technical assistance in this area, and verification that nuclear materials and technology stay in peaceful use. Article III of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) requires non-nuclear weapon states party to the NPT to accept safeguards administered by the IAEA. The IAEA consists of three principal organs: the General Conference (of member states); the Board of Governors; and the Secretariat. For additional information, see the IAEA.
Sources
- Greg J. Gerardi and Maryam Aharinejad, “Report: An Assessment of Iran’s Nuclear Facilities,” The Nonproliferation Review, Spring/Summer 1995, p. 209.
- “IAEA Chief in Tehran to Inspect Research Facilities,” AP, 20 July 1997.
- Anthony H. Cordesman, Iran’s Military Forces in Transition: Conventional Threats and Weapons of Mass Destruction (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1999), p. 381.