The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) was set up by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1955. The United Nations General Assembly has designated 31 United Nations Member States as members of the Scientific Committee. The organization has no power to set radiation standards nor to make recommendations in regard to nuclear testing. It was established solely to "define precisely the present exposure of the population of the world to ionizing radiation". A small secretariat, located in Vienna and functionally linked to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), organizes the annual sessions and manages the preparation of documents for the committee's scrutiny.