Vienna - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed Elbaradei warned Monday in Vienna that the agency's ability to carry out its core work was at risk unless funding was increased. 

As member states of the Vienna-based agency have hardly raised its budget since the early 1980s, some areas of work, such as the prevention of nuclear terrorism, are being funded through special contributions by individual countries. 

"It would be a tragedy of epic proportions if we fail to act until after a nuclear conflagration, accident or terrorist attack that could have been prevented," Director General ElBaradei said at the outset of the annual IAEA general conference. 

Among the problem areas, ElBaradei mentioned that 90 per cent of the IAEA's nuclear security programme depended on voluntary funding, rather than on the regular budget. 

The programme advises governments on how to prevent and respond to nuclear terrorism and was involved in security measures at the Beijing Olympics this summer. 

The IAEA's inspectors, who are currently probing allegations about a secret military nuclear programme in Iran, are "increasingly overstretched," ElBaradei said. 

The director general repeated his call on Tehran to be more transparent in order to clear the allegations. 

"This will be good for Iran, good for the Middle East region and good for the world," he said. 

Funding to renovate the inspector's ageing laboratory near Vienna had not yet been secured, he added. 

A commission of eminent people completed a study in May, in which they called for a doubling of the IAEA's budget until 2020. 

In 2008, the IAEA's regular budget amounted to 289 million euros (415 million dollars). 

Diplomats have told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that several member states were critical of the report, as it proposed to expand, rather than streamline, the agency's activities. (dpa)