Sharing the “safe” atom? The International Atomic Energy Agency and nuclear regulation through standardisation1

This chapter scrutinises the early efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, founded in 1957) to both promote and monitor the development of atomic energy in its member states. While IAEA’s efforts to counter the threat of nuclear proliferation through reporting and inspection are well-known, the agency also set health and safety regulations for civilian nuclear activities. The agency came to embody a new regulatory presence that used technical standards to shape the dissemination of technologies, materials and practices while supporting the development of nuclear industry. In conjunction with programs of technical assistance in the decolonising world, the IAEA’s radiological safety standards became an integral element of “safeguarding” the atom, an enterprise tethered to the geopolitics of the Cold War.