Mr. Yukiya Amano, Japan's ambassador to the Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, was elected last week as the next chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog that was established in the Austrian capital in 1957 and now has 146 member countries.

Mr. Amano's election as the next IAEA director general is significant. He is the first person from Asia to serve as chief and he comes from a nation that suffered the world's only atomic attacks. It is hoped that he will do his utmost, as he has pledged, to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Amano, who has served in posts related to nuclear energy, disarmament and nuclear nonproliferation at the Foreign Ministry, will start leading the IAEA in December, succeeding Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei, who will by then have served three full terms — 12 years — as IAEA chief. Mr. Amano becomes head of the IAEA at a difficult time. He has expressed his determination to ensure sustainable development through the peaceful use of nuclear energy, but developing countries feel that restrictions on the development of nuclear energy are too severe.