Few people's careers are as intertwined with the flashpoints of history as that of Hans Blix.
The long-time head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been at the forefront of events that have shaped the world.
He became a regular feature on the news in the late 1980s as the only westerner allowed to set foot on the nuclear wasteland of Chernobyl in the aftermath of the Ukrainian reactor's meltdown.
A lifelong campaigner for nuclear disarmament, Mr Blix then went on to become one of the most high-profile political figures of the turn of the century when he was sent to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destructions (WMD).
Now retired from political office, he remains an ardent proponent of the peaceful use of nuclear power and, as such, heads the advisory body that oversees Abu Dhabi's nuclear programme.
Mr Blix is more than simply a trophy signing for Abu Dhabi, however. The former IAEA man has an intrinsic grasp of the pros and cons of atomic energy.
In 1986, he sat in a Russian helicopter as it circled the burnt-out shell of Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl power plant, which has become synonymous with nuclear disaster.
A thaw in relations between the Soviet Union and the West was already evident - the Kremlin had invited him to inspect the site just a week after the catastrophe.
"We sat there in our white suits in the helicopter, gazing out of the windows of the helicopter and we saw the black smoke coming from the burning graphite and the destruction all around," recalls Mr Blix.
He had accepted the offer by the Soviets undeterred by rumours that a second reactor was close to blowing up.
But even the apocalyptic scenario laid out beneath him on the Ukrainian plains did not weaken Mr Blix's commitment to nuclear power. Instead, he pushed the IAEA to seize the moment and fulfil its purpose as a body that promotes nuclear power by working towards the safest use of the resource.
"Progress and reform is often possible only after very dramatic, painful moments," says Mr Blix.
Within a few months, the UN nuclear watchdog got member states to sign two new conventions that obliged them to inform the rest of the world about any nuclear accidents and to help out in case of an emergency.
At a time when Mikhail Gorbachev, the last head of state of the Soviet Union from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991, was ushering the country down a path of reform that would ultimately lead to its demise, the agency became an important conduit that bridged the Iron Curtain.
"This was at the time of perestroika, says Mr Blix.
"[The IAEA was] part of the spearhead of the new glasnost that came at the end of the 1980s. Chernobyl was a horrible affair but our relations with Russia were really improved by it."
After 16 years, Mr Blix left the agency in 1997. But, within five years, he was back in the limelight.
Shocked by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, the United States was gearing up to invade Iraq, accusing Saddam Hussein of harbouring WMDs and working towards a nuclear arsenal.
Keen on justifying a second invasion, the administration of the US president George Bush and its British allies put forth evidence they said proved Iraq was in possession of WMD. In an effort to avert war, Sadaam allowed the UN to put a team of inspectors in his country.
Mr Blix, who was by then the executive chairman of the UN's monitoring, verification and inspection commission, headed the inspection efforts in Iraq that began in 2002.
Caught between the hammer of American insistence and the anvil of Hussein's attempts to mislead the investigation, Mr Blix stood firm and refused to corroborate US claims without credible evidence to back them.
"The Iraq affair was a complex thing, and the media, especially in the US, were trying to exert a great deal of pressure. So did the US administration at the very end, before the invasion," he says.
The US and its allies invaded Iraq for a second time in 2003. WMDs, the official justification for the war, were never found.
Mr Blix was frustrated he had not been able to prevent the bloodshed. And while he called the war illegal under the existing UN resolution in a 2004 interview, he is also quick to see the positives.
"The mission had failed in that sense. But it was successful in the limited sense that we proved the independence and the integrity of an international organisation … and we received a lot of praise afterwards for having come up with as correct a picture as one could," he says.
While Mr Blix left the grand stage of international politics after his work in Iraq, he remains active in his quest to make nuclear power a force for good.
Prior to his appointment to the IAEA, he served for many years as the Swedish representative to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva and he became the chairman of the government-funded weapons of mass destruction commission upon stepping down as the UN weapons inspectorate.
He is also a member of the Luxembourg Group, based in Moscow, that campaigns for disarmament, and he is the chairman of the Chernobyl Shelter Fund, set up by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to provide a new casing for the reactor ruin by 2015.
His years of crisis management have not diminished his enthusiasm for nuclear power, which he believes is a vital component in the fight against global warming.
"Those who oppose nuclear power are not taking climate change seriously," he says.
"To me, global warming is a greater threat to the world than even weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear power has opened the way for the world to commit quick suicide but climate change enables us to commit slow suicide."
Like his advocacy of nuclear power, which dates back to his time in Swedish national politics in the 1980s, his concern for the environment is long-held. In 1972, he took part in the UN conference on the human environment held in Stockholm, the first international climate change forum and the precursor to the 1992 UN summit in Rio de Janeiro, where the world community committed itself to sustainable development by adopting the landmark Agenda 21.
A doctor of law and legal adviser to the foreign ministry at the time, he was chosen by the Swedish government to hammer out a joint declaration to be issued at the end of the conference. To Mr Blix's dismay, the Chinese tore up his draft declaration and he was left scrambling to work out a compromise.
"Eventually, during the last stirring moment of the conference, we managed to stitch it together to something the Chinese didn't vote positively in favour but they did not block the consensus," he recalls.
While Mr Blix's life is now far removed from the hectic bustle of diplomatic wrangling, he has not become a mere spectator.
In 2010, he was appointed the chairman of the International Advisory Board (IAB), a group of nine experts who will advise Abu Dhabi on its nuclear programme.
When Abu Dhabi in 2008 announced plans to build four reactors in Al Gharbia by 2020, it became the first country to initiate a civilian nuclear programme since the Chernobyl disaster.
Having fought hard to preserve the independence of the organisations he has led, he now sees his IAB role as one of impartial expert and adviser on nuclear matters.
"I feel there is a need for independent voices," he says.
And few are more keenly listened to than his.