The United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC) was founded on 24 January 1946 by the very first

resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...

of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

"to deal with the problems raised by the discovery of atomic energy." The General Assembly asked the Commission to "make specific proposals: (a) for extending between all nations the exchange of basic scientific information for peaceful ends; (b) for control of atomic energy to the extent necessary to ensure its use only for peaceful purposes; (c) for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction; (d) for effective safeguards by way of inspection and other means to protect complying States against the hazards of violations and evasions." On 14 December 1946, the General Assembly passed a follow-up resolution urging an expeditious completion of the report by the Commission as well as its consideration by the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

. The Security Council received the report on 31 December 1946 and passed a resolution on 10 March 1947, "recognizing that any agreement expressed by the members of the Council to the separate portions of the report is preliminary" and requesting a second report to be made. On 4 November 1948, the General Assembly passed a resolution stating that it had examined the first, second and third reports of the Commission and expressed its deep concern at the impasse which had been reached, as shown in its third report. On 14 June 1946, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

representative to the Commission, Bernard Baruch, presented the Baruch Plan, wherein the United States (at the time the only state possessing atomic weapons) would destroy its atomic arsenal on the condition that the U.N. imposed controls on atomic development that would not be subject to

United Nations Security Council veto The United Nations Security Council veto power is the power of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to veto any "substantive" resolution. They also happen to b ...

. These controls would allow only the peaceful use of atomic energy. The plan was passed by the Commission, but not agreed to by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

who abstained on the proposal in the Security Council. Debate on the plan continued into 1948, but by early 1947 it was clear that agreement was unlikely. The UN General Assembly officially disbanded UNAEC in 1952, although the Commission had been inactive since July 1949.

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

, "IAEA Turns 40: Key Dates & Historical Developments," Supplement to the IAEA Bulletin, September 1997,

References

External links

Hans Bethe talking about the formation of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission
on Peoples Archive.
"General Findings and Recommendations Approved by the Atomic Energy Commission and Incorporated in its First Report to the Security Council, December 31, 1946"
nbsp;— from The Avalon Project at Yale Law School

The Manhattan Project Interactive History, U.S. Department of Energy {{authority control Organizations established in 1946 International nuclear energy organizations Nuclear proliferation Atomic Energy Commission,United Nations

See also

References

External links