VIENNA, Sept 29: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief urged 145 member states on Monday to get to grips with an IAEA funding crisis undermining its ability to prevent nuclear proliferation threats.

Opening the IAEA’s annual assembly, Mohamed ElBaradei called for urgent steps to increase funding of the UN watchdog, modernise equipment and give it more legal power to verify the nature of nuclear programmes in suspect countries.

“We have really reached a turning point. Years of zero (real) growth budgets have left us with a failing infrastructure and a troubling dependence on voluntary support which invariably has conditions attached,” he said.

“This is not just about money. We do not work in a political vacuum. Political commitment to the goals of the agency needs to be renewed at the highest level,” ElBaradei told the IAEA’s General Conference at its Vienna headquarters.

“It would be a tragedy of epic proportions if we fail to act (for lack of resources) until after a nuclear conflagration, accident or terrorist attack that could have been prevented.”

Among major IAEA challenges are investigations into alleged covert nuclear work in Iran and Syria that the United States and some allies suspect may be intended to make atom bombs.

But old equipment, especially in IAEA laboratories, prolongs the time the UN watchdog needs to assess and verify information, including samples tested for evidence of undeclared nuclear activity.

HANDICAPPED: The IAEA, guardian of the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), also lacks the authority to demand full cooperation from countries under investigation and access for inspectors beyond declared nuclear sites.