IAEA serves as the world’s central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field, and as the international inspectorate for the application of nuclear safeguards and verification measures covering civilian nuclear programmes. It is part of the UN system.
Areas of work include research, work on international conventions, nuclear safety monitoring, statistical compilation.
Information services include:
(a) WWW site: includes statistical data, newsletters, reseearch/monitoring results (including follow-up to Chernobyl and the illicit trafficking of nuclear materials)
(b) Technical Co-operation Management System (TCMS): data on all aspects of technical co-operation activities carried out by the IAEA. It contains data on all TC projects approved since 1976 (over 4,200) as well as records on all TC expert reports, evaluation reports, fellowships, and training courses (since 1980). It includes three authority files (see below). The project data includes general information (objectives, counterpart institutes and personnel, IAEA staff dealing with project, subject information); and detailed information on each project component (experts, equipment, fellowships, training courses, sub-contracts). It has a comprehensive financial module which records approvals, allotments, disbursements, unliquidated obligations at detailed and aggregate levels.
(c) Research Contracts (RESCON): contains data on all research contracts since 1976, provided they were active as of 1986-01-01. The main data consists of counterpart institutes, name of chief scientific investigator (CSI), IAEA staff in charge of the contract, title of project, title of co-ordinate research programme (CRP), amount awarded by the Agency, and begin and end date of the contract. This information is also available in printed reports either by country or subject area.