New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West

by David E. Sanger

So “Atoms for Peace” was based on an explicit deal: Countries that forswore nuclear weapons would get help from the United States and the other nuclear powers to build commercial nuclear power plants. The lure of seemingly limitless sources of electricity, the United States was betting, would outweigh the desire for a nuclear weapons option. It was the job of the IAEA, created in 1957, to make sure that the plants were safe and that no nuclear fuel was surreptitiously diverted. Its mandate is deliberately narrow: Contrary to popular belief, IAEA inspectors don’t search for weapons, just the fuel that powers them. In fact, there are only a handful of true weapons experts in the tall towers in Vienna overlooking the Danube River.