Atomic ambassadors: the IAEA’s first Preliminary Assistance Mission (1958)

ABSTRACT In 1958, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) saw the need to organize international surveys on nuclear development. Latin America was chosen as the region to host the first Preliminary Assistance Mission, planned to build the engagement of countries with nuclear technologies and knowledge. The mission’s goals included the assistance to request future assistance. Teams sent abroad were composed of administrative staff and scientific experts who acted as atomic ambassadors. Nuclear diplomacy infused collaboration and cooperation in international relations by the use of paper technologies and by implementing the missions as actual travels and face-to-face contacts. The IAEA was able to ground policies and projects devised by the interconnected interests of Vienna and each Latin American country, while maintaining the deep asymmetries of the Cold War era. This paper aims to contribute to the visibility of actors and mechanisms designed to create the need for nuclear technical assistance.