US Nominations for IAEA Events
As the center of international nuclear collaboration, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) organizes and hosts numerous topical and technical events every year, inviting experts from around the world to participate and contribute. The purpose of these events ranges from working out a set of recommendations and advice, to providing analyses of aspects of individual projects or specific programmatic areas, to receiving training or sharing knowledge.
IAEA Programs at Argonne National Laboratory is responsible for processing US expert invited to attend IAEA non-safeguards technical and consultancy meetings, workshops, training courses, expert missions, standing committee meetings and international conferences. Our scope includes US Federal Government affiliates of any nationality as well as all private US citizens, permanent residents, expatriates, and dual-citizenship holders. It is federal protocol to prepare and approve an electronic Country Clearance cables (eCC) for each federal employee, contractor or representative traveling internationally to attend an IAEA event. Our Office processes upwards of 900 invitations and 2000 participating experts each year.
IAEA Programs at Argonne promotes a diverse, inclusive, equitable and accessible environment. The IAEA is committed to gender equality and we support the Agency's mission to achieve gender balance. Women and gender nonconforming people are encouraged to participate. Interested US experts may wish to subscribe to the alerts distributed by IAEA Programs at Argonne.
Completion Process
Federal experts who have received an designation request or other invitation from the IAEA will be contacted by IAEA Programs with details on the clearance process. On request, our office may also retransmit participation forms on behalf of US nationals and federal affiliates. Travel clearance is generally not required for private experts and each is notified by email when their nomination review process is complete.
A summary of the Nominations process:
- IAEA sends invitation via email at least three months in advance to the UNVIE Nominations Contact Point, which forwards to Argonne
- Argonne requests initial federal approval to proceed
- Argonne sends out a weekly vetting digest containing all upcoming events.
- After clearing the interagency vetting period (≈2–3 weeks) without objection:
- Argonne lists federal employee nominations as Approved pending confirmation of in-person or remote participation
- Argonne marks private nominations as Complete and notifies them by email
- Note: At this stage, the IAEA is invited to work directly with nominees to plan logistics surrounding their participtation
- Federal nominations are marked Complete upon confirmation of their participation mode
A summary of the US-hosted event clearance process:
- IAEA sends a Host Government Arrangement (HGA) letter via email at least four months in advance to the UNVIE Nominations Contact Point, which forwards to Argonne
- Argonne requests initial federal approval to proceed
- After clearing the vetting period (≈2–3 weeks) without objection:
- Argonne drafts a cable and circulates it to the interagency for initial and final clearance
- Argonne transmits the cleared cable and requests a signed agreement letter from UNVIE
- Upon receipt of the signed agreement letter, the US host and IAEA may begin to finalize arrangements for the upcoming US event
For questions on the Nominations process, please contact us at [email protected].