BERLIN (AP) — Four candidates from three continents hope to succeed the late Yukiya Amano as the director general of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that Cornel Feruta of Romania, its chief coordinator under Amano and currently the acting director general, is one of the candidates.

Another candidate is Lassina Zerbo of Burkina Faso, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

Also nominated in time for the Sept. 5 deadline were Rafael Mariano Grossi, Argentina's ambassador to the Vienna-based IAEA, and Marta Ziakova, the head of Slovakia's nuclear regulatory authority.

The agency expects to appoint its new leader in October, and he or she will take office by Jan. 1. Amano died in July.