Add us as your preferred source on Google to see more of our content in Search.
Add to Preferred SourcesNo other international organization offers the range of services related to nuclear science and technology that the IAEA does, Acting Director-General Cornel Feruta said in his opening address to the IAEA’s 63rd General Conference.
“We contribute to international peace and security by verifying that nuclear material remains in peaceful uses, and we help to improve the well-being and prosperity of the people of the world through the peaceful use of nuclear technology,” he told representatives of IAEA Member States at the start of the week-long annual meeting.
“We help countries on all continents to generate electricity, produce more food, manage their water supplies, combat deadly infectious diseases affecting humans, plants and animals, and treat cancer,” Mr. Feruta added.
Noting the steady growth in the Agency’s membership to 171 countries and increasing demand for its services, Mr. Feruta stated that the Agency has won the trust of Member States through its technical expertise, impartiality and independence.
This year saw the installation of the IAEA’s first linear accelerator at its Dosimetry Laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria. This enables the Agency to provide expanded dosimetry calibration services to Member States to ensure that cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment throughout the world receive exactly the right dose of radiation.
The Agency’s latest annual projections show that nuclear power will continue to play a key role in the world’s low-carbon energy mix, despite the declining trend for installed capacity up to 2050. The IAEA will hold an International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power in October.
“The conference will provide a platform for objective discussion of the scientific case for making more use of nuclear power to help combat climate change,” Mr. Feruta said.
The Agency is now in the final phase of making the IAEA Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank in Kazakhstan operational. The first delivery of LEU to the Storage Facility is expected to take place within several weeks, at which point the IAEA LEU Bank will become established. The Bank is being set up as a supply of last resort of nuclear fuel to countries, should they be unable to obtain fuel for their power plants on the open market.
Original source: IAEA
Published on 16 September 2019