Category: News Story

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The IAEA announced its commitment of €13.7 million in support to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) at the United Nations 4th International Conference on SIDS in May 2024. Conference delegates heard how 26 SIDS will benefit from these funds in 2024–2025 through 49 technical cooperation projects addressing ocean pollution; microplastics monitoring; cancer care; nutrition; and water resource management.

“The IAEA has long recognized the urgent need to assist SIDS in building their capacity to address their challenges and vulnerabilities. Through the IAEA commitment, we want to unlock the full potential of our innovative solutions and help concretely build a more resilient, sustainable and prosperous future for SIDS,” said Hua Liu, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation, IAEA, addressing the official conference plenary.

Convened every ten years, the International Conference on SIDS brings together SIDS representatives and members of the international community to take stock of small islands’ pressing needs and find new paths to tackle common obstacles. SIDS delegates described unique and increasing barriers to development. The COVID-19 pandemic and disasters, including those caused by climate change, are disproportionately affecting SIDS.

This latest IAEA commitment to SIDS follows years of support at the national and regional levels. At the ‘Interactive Dialogue’ session on addressing SIDS’ health crises, the IAEA further emphasized the pivotal nature of nuclear techniques in supporting human health, from improving cancer care and non-communicable disease diagnosis, to tackling nutrition and ensuring food safety by monitoring harmful contaminants and residues in food.

Although the severe effects of converging crises on SIDS are evident, there is a distinct lack of comprehensive historical data to fully understand the implications over time and across regions. At the conference, the IAEA organized a side event with UN Environment Programme, UN Office for South-South Cooperation, Antigua and Barbuda and the United States, to discuss with SIDS delegates how best to harness environmental data for the benefit of SIDS.

Panellists considered solutions through a lens of South-South and triangular cooperation to help scale up successes. The IAEA employs this methodology in its Sub-Regional Approach to the Pacific Islands (SAPI), through which tailored support is provided at the sub-regional level, encouraging the sharing of resources and expertise among neighbouring countries. Side event attendees heard how a South-South approach to data helps the harmonized collection of data that can easily be compared for analyses at the regional level. This is particularly important for studying shared resources such as the ocean.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The World Bank and other MDBs currently do not contribute financing to nuclear power new build projects, although some MDBs have provided lending for upgrades to existing nuclear power reactors or their decommissioning. Mr Grossi said that financing nuclear power would better align MDBs with the “new global consensus” forged at last year at COP28 in Dubai, where the world called for accelerating the deployment of nuclear power along with other zero emission energy technologies to achieve deep and rapid decarbonization.

Dozens of countries have also signed on to a pledge made at COP28 to work towards tripling global nuclear power capacity to achieve net zero by 2050. The pledge also called on the World Bank, regional development banks and international financial institutions to include nuclear in their lending. That call was echoed by scores of countries at the first-ever Nuclear Energy Summit organized by the IAEA and Government of Belgium in March.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says nuclear power global capacity, which provides a quarter of the world’s low carbon electricity, must at least double by mid-century to meet climate goals, in line with the IAEA’s 2023 high case nuclear projections. Doubling nuclear capacity by 2050 will require a more than doubling of investments in nuclear power to 100 billion USD annually, the IAEA estimates.

Around 30 so-called newcomer countries are either considering or already embarking on nuclear power to accelerate their development and reduce emissions. In nuclear energy, they see a technology that can provide the backbone of a modern energy system with 24/7 electricity as well applications such as industrial heat needed to cleanly power a modern economy, including by enabling greater deployment of variable solar and wind.

Around two-thirds of the nuclear newcomers are in the developing world, and according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), nuclear power will need to significantly expand in such countries if the world is to have a reasonable chance at meeting climate goals under the Paris Agreement.

But financing such projects there remains a major hurdle. While some newcomers such as Bangladesh and Egypt are already building their first nuclear power plants with the help of government-backed nuclear reactor vendor financing, other countries may need to pursue different financing options. Several newcomers are interested in emerging technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs).

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The IAEA and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC Fund) have formally agreed to strengthen joint efforts to tackle the world’s growing health, food, energy and climate development challenges with nuclear science and technology under a new Practical Arrangement (PA). The PA will focus on the key IAEA initiatives to improve cancer care through Rays of Hope: Cancer Care for All; use nuclear science to boost agriculture through Atoms4Food; and to cooperate in areas related to water scarcity, environmental monitoring and energy planning.

Speaking at the OPEC Fund Development Forum on 25 June on the role of nuclear technology in combating disease, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi highlighted the need for action to combat the growing global cancer burden. It is estimated that by 2030, 70 per cent of cancer deaths will occur in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) however, at present, these countries only represent 5 per cent of global spending in this area.

“Around 80 per cent of the African population does not have access to radiotherapy at all,” said Mr Grossi.

The IAEA’s Rays of Hope: Cancer Care for All initiative supports countries, especially LMICs, to establish, or expand, their radiation medicine capabilities. These include medical imaging, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy. The initiative builds on the IAEA’s six decades of experience in this field.

“I invite you to see the IAEA in this ecosystem of financial institutions and technical institutions, as your technical instrument,” Mr Grossi told the OPEC Fund audience.

“What we are doing is providing the science behind all of these projects. We are the ones developing the methodologies, we are the ones training the technicians … the medical oncologists, the radiotherapists, in different parts of the world… It’s a huge area where the IAEA is bringing its expertise to work together in a very effective way.

“Thanks to this partnership with the OPEC fund, we hope to be working in a scope commensurate with the dramatic needs we are facing.”

Together with the OPEC Fund, the IAEA is in the process of finalizing a plan to support around a dozen countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and in Latin America and the Caribbean regions. Under the plan, countries in these regions will be provided with capacity to sustainably improve their medical health infrastructure under the Rays of Hope initiative.

The OPEC Fund, in collaboration with the IAEA, has significantly supported Malawi in starting construction work on radiotherapy and brachytherapy bunkers, work expected to be completed by the end of June 2024. This project also includes the delivery of cancer care equipment and ongoing training of medical professionals under the IAEA Rays of Hope initiative.

Mr Grossi also spoke of the role of nuclear technology in enhancing food safety and addressing water scarcity around the world.  “With nuclear techniques you can develop crops which are drought resistant, that are resistant to pesticides, that require less fertilizer … through isotope hydrology, which is a nuclear technique, we can determine the soil fertility and the amount of water we might need,” he said.

“We are so happy to be partnering with the OPEC Fund because the development needs are so huge. This is why we decide to work together.”

A High-Level Energy and Food Security Investment Roundtable on Sierra Leone was also held on the margins of the OPEC Fund Development Forum on 24 June, titled “Partnering to Accelerate and Unlock Green Investment Opportunities”. High-level representatives from the international development community, alongside the IAEA, emphasized the need to join efforts to support Sierra Leone in accelerating investment opportunities to address the country’s challenges of energy access and food security. At the event, Mr Grossi underscored the crucial role the IAEA can play under its Rays of Hope and Atoms4Food initiatives, highlighting the importance of collaborative efforts to drive sustainable development and improve living conditions in Sierra Leone. DG Grossi also met with Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Wonie Bio, and explained how nuclear science and technology can contribute to Sierra Leone’s development in the areas of energy, food safety and security and better cancer care.

DG Grossi also expressed the IAEA’s readiness to support Sierra Leone in creating a legal framework and strengthening capacity building in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The Director General was able to view firsthand the impact of his Rays of Hope initiative to deliver better access to cancer care in low- and middle-income countries.

After arriving in Rio de Janeiro, he visited the Nuclear Medicine Service at António Pedro University Hospital, where doctors explained how the IAEA’s support, providing advanced equi

The Director General was able to view firsthand the impact of his Rays of Hope initiative to deliver better access to cancer care in low- and middle-income countries. 

After arriving in Rio de Janeiro, he visited the Nuclear Medicine Service at António Pedro University Hospital, where doctors explained how the IAEA’s support, providing advanced equipment and training, has greatly improved early cancer detection and treatment quality.  

The IAEA is also supporting the Brazilian Navy in its goals to increase medical services for remote communities located in the Amazon River delta. Two mammography machines have been installed on the ships ‘Soares de Meirelles’ and ‘Carlos Chagas’, allowing these communities to have access to breast cancer diagnostic services for the first time in history. 

The many positive socioeconomic impacts of nuclear applications were also covered at an event co-hosted by the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (IPEN), particularly achievements in combating cancer and hunger. 

The IAEA is also supporting the Brazilian Navy in its goals to increase medical services for remote communities located in the Amazon River delta. Two mammography machines have been installed on the ships ‘Soares de Meirelles’ and ‘Carlos Chagas’, allowing these communities to have access to breast cancer diagnostic services for the first time in history.

The many positive socioeconomic impacts of nuclear applications were also covered at an event co-hosted by the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute (IPN), particularly achievements in combating cancer and hunger.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Peru’s MoU under Atoms4Food is aimed at increasing food security through climate smart agricultural practices. Peru has already enhanced its sugarcane production using nuclear and isotopic techniques. When the devastating banana disease Banana Fusarium Wilt began to spread to farms in Peru in 2021, the IAEA provided emergency assistance to the country’s Andean community, in partnership with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Peru has benefited from IAEA assistance through its technical cooperation programme in adopting the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). As a result, it has established areas free of the Mediterranean fruit fly export in the south of the country and can export mangos without quarantine restrictions. 

Peru is a major fishing nation, and Mr Grossi also visited Peru’s Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE) which has been supported by the IAEA’s Marine Environment Laboratories in the aftermath of the Ventanilla oil spill in 2022 and in efforts to tackle microplastic pollution.

“Collaboration with the IAEA’s NUTEC Plastics initiative is key for sustainable marine ecosystems, addressing microplastics pollution and more, including emergency assistance after the 2022 Ventanilla oil spill,” Mr Grossi said.

Following the Ventanilla oil spill, the IAEA sent experts and sophisticated monitoring equipment to help limit the environmental damage. 

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

In 2023, the IAEA conducted more than 3,000 in-field verification activities at over 1,300 nuclear facilities and ‘locations outside facilities’ around the world, according to the Safeguards Statement and Background for 2023, published recently. As a result of this verification effort, the IAEA was able to draw safeguards conclusions for 189 States with safeguards agreements in force.

IAEA safeguards verify countries’ commitments to use nuclear material and technology only for peaceful purposes. The Safeguards Statement presents the IAEA’s findings and conclusions for all countries for which the IAEA implemented safeguards during the year.

“During 2023, our safeguards inspectors spent over 14,000 calendar days at nuclear facilities and ‘locations outside of facilities’ to conduct nuclear verification activities,” said Massimo Aparo, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Safeguards. “This represents the IAEA’s critical mission to verify that the ever-growing amounts of nuclear material around the world remain in peaceful use.”

Of the 189 States where the IAEA implemented safeguards during the year, 181 had a comprehensive safeguards agreement in force, of which 136 also had an additional protocol in force. The additional protocol significantly increases the IAEA’s ability to verify the peaceful use of nuclear material by providing the Agency with access to additional safeguards relevant information, nuclear sites and locations.

Among the 136 States with a comprehensive safeguards agreement and an additional protocol in force, the IAEA was able to conclude that “all nuclear material remained in peaceful activities” for 74 countries. The IAEA drew this conclusion, also known as the ‘broader conclusion’, for the first time for Lesotho. For the other 62 countries, because evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities remained ongoing, the IAEA was only able to conclude that declared nuclear material remained in peaceful activities.

For the 45 States with a comprehensive safeguards agreement in force, but no additional protocol in force, the IAEA was also only able to conclude that declared nuclear material remained in peaceful activities.

As of the end of 2023, four States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)  had yet to bring into force comprehensive safeguards agreements with the Agency. For these countries, the IAEA could not draw any safeguards conclusions.

For the countries with item-specific – rather than comprehensive – safeguards agreements in force (India, Israel and Pakistan), where the Agency does not have access to all nuclear facilities in the country, the IAEA concluded that “nuclear material, facilities or other items to which safeguards had been applied remained in peaceful activities”.

For the five officially acknowledged nuclear weapons States with voluntary offer agreements in force (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), again where the Agency does not have access to all nuclear facilities in the country, the IAEA concluded that “nuclear material in selected facilities to which safeguards had been applied remained in peaceful activities or had been withdrawn from safeguards as provided for in the agreements”.

During the year, a new comprehensive safeguards agreement with a small quantities protocol entered into force for Sao Tome and Principe.  The protocol is based on the revised standard text for States with minimal or no nuclear material and without any existing or planned facilities. An additional protocol also entered into force for the Plurinational State of Bolivia and for Sao Tome and Principe.

As called for by the IAEA Board of Governors in 2005, the revised small quantities protocol reduces the number of provisions of the comprehensive safeguards agreement that are held in abeyance. In 2023, Nauru amended its original small quantities protocol accordingly, meaning that by the end of the year only 21 States still had operative small quantities protocols that had yet to be amended or rescinded.

During the year, the IAEA continued to assist States in their efforts to strengthen and sustain the effectiveness of State systems of accounting for and control of nuclear material (SSACs) and State or regional authorities responsible for safeguards implementation (SRAs). In March 2023, the Agency concluded the pilot phase of COMPASS — the IAEA Comprehensive Capacity-Building Initiative for SSACs and SRAs — in seven participating States. During the pilot phase, the IAEA conducted a total of 96 collaborative activities, such as technical visits and training events, between the pilot countries and the Agency. These included 28 activities implemented in cooperation with Member State Support Programmes (MSSPs) and other supporting IAEA Member States. COMPASS will now continue as part of the suite of activities through which the IAEA provides safeguards assistance for States.

Notably, two new MSSPs were established in support of IAEA safeguards in 2023 – by Norway and the United Arab Emirates. By providing financial and in-kind contributions, MSSPs play an important role in addressing specific safeguards development and implementation support needs through collaboration, research and development, provision of equipment, training materials, and access to facilities for training or equipment testing purposes.

“The IAEA welcomes both Norway and the UAE into our family of MSSPs,” said Aparo. “We continue to seek ever more effective and efficient safeguards implementation in collaboration, and with the assistance of, our Member States. I thank each of our 24 active MSSPs for their commitment and contributions in supporting our work.”

Read the Safeguards Statement and Background for 2023.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Isotope hydrology is a nuclear technique that reveals how water moves through the land, ocean and atmosphere, providing information about the water’s origin, age, quality and movement. 

Isotopes are atoms of the same element with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Water (H₂O) being composed of two atoms of Hydrogen and one of Oxygen, each drop has a unique isotopic ‘fingerprint’ or ‘signature’, depending on where it comes from. Scientists can track the movement and pollution of water along its path through the water cycle. 

For sixty years, the IAEA has been supporting researchers around the world gather and analyse water samples and created the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation, the worldwide monitoring network built by the IAEA to provide governments and researchers with the long-term, large-scale data they need to gain insights into climate processes at the local, regional and global scale.

Data and information help countries meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and deliver on the Water Action Agenda.

Since 1962, water samples have been sent to the IAEA’s laboratories in Vienna.  The results provide scientists with detailed information on the origin and age, and this information is entered into the largest online isotopic hydrology database. 

“This large amount of data allows researchers to better understand the water cycle globally and locally. For example: when, where, and how groundwater is recharged. This is key to decision makers to manage water resources, particularly in the light of climate change,” explains IAEA Isotope Hydrologist Lucia Ortega. 

The IAEA datasets and maps are freely available for analysts around the globe to study how changing global rainfall patterns affect local water resources. 

These help countries understand how precipitation patterns change and how different rainfall events transfer to the groundwater system and help them also identify the exact source of water pollution when it occurs.  

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi is in Switzerland this week to engage with insurance executives about the potential of nuclear power. 

As part of growing interest from non-traditional audiences about the potential of expanding nuclear energy to meet climate goals, the Director General travelled to Zurich on Tuesday to address the Nuclear Pools’ Forum.

The forum, a nuclear insurance conference, was organized by the Swiss Pool for the Insurance of Nuclear Risks and hosted by Swiss Re.

Mr Grossi spoke on how a secure, thriving and sustainable future requires the use of nuclear power, calling it our opportunity and responsibility. He described the clear consensus on the necessity of using nuclear energy for the world to reach net zero climate emissions, as was agreed at COP28, the first climate change conference ever to feature nuclear in the list of low emission technologies that need accelerating. 

“We see good perspectives for nuclear but need technology, finance and regulation to continue advancing, and the IAEA is working actively on this,” he added.