Yukiya Amano

Yukiya Amano (born May 9, 1947, Kanagawa, Japan—died July 18, 2019) was a Japanese expert in nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation who was director general (2009–19) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Amano joined Japan’s Foreign Ministry after graduating from Tokyo University’s law faculty in 1972. In 1988 he was appointed director for research coordination and senior research fellow of the Japan Institute of International Affairs. He was subsequently appointed director (1990) of the publications and information centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Tokyo and director (1993) of the nuclear energy division of the Japanese Foreign Ministry. As Amano’s expertise on international issues concerning nuclear weapons grew, he participated in arms-control talks that led to the 1995 extension of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, signed by 174 nations and designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons beyond countries that already possessed them; and the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, a worldwide effort to end all nuclear testing. He then held positions in Japan’s Foreign Ministry as director general (2002) for arms control and scientific affairs and director general (2004) of the disarmament, nonproliferation, and science department. In 2005–09 he served as Japan’s envoy to and a member of the board of governors of the IAEA, an autonomous intergovernmental organization charged with safeguarding against nuclear proliferation and encouraging global cooperation in nuclear applications, energy, science, and technology.

In July 2009 Amano was elected the director general of the IAEA. In its role as a promoter of nuclear peace and nonproliferation, the organization had recently gained prominence with concerns that Iran might be developing nuclear weapons. Successive IAEA reports in 2009, 2010, and 2011 heightened those concerns, and finding a diplomatic solution to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program became a significant part of Amano’s role as head of the IAEA. A new round of talks with Iran in 2012 offered the hope of an end to Iran’s refusal to allow nuclear inspectors to visit secret military facilities, but the talks ended without an agreement.

In addition to nonproliferation efforts, the IAEA under Amano worked toward the advancement of nuclear safety. Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in March 2011, Amano convened an IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety. The conference led to the creation of the agency’s first-ever action plan for nuclear safety, adopted by the IAEA Board of Governors in September 2011.