Category: News Story

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

More than 700 million people faced hunger in 2022, according to the United Nations. On 1 December at a joint IAEA-FAO high-level event on the occasion of the 28th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28), IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, together with FAO Director General Qu Dongyu, presented the newly launched #Atoms4Food initiative, intended to alleviate the urgent pressure of climate change on food security by bolstering agricultural production and improving soil and water management through nuclear science.

Side event attendees at COP28 heard how this new initiative builds upon the nearly 60 years of IAEA-FAO collaboration through the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. It combines the organizations’ unique strengths to the benefit of populations facing hunger. The IAEA, through the Joint Centre, uses nuclear applications to support countries to identify and solve challenges caused by climate change. FAO Director General Qu stressed the importance of nuclear science and technology for evidence-based decision making.

“Food is a basic human right for everyone. We have to produce more with less because of the climate crisis. We need science-based solutions and a technically driven approach to contribute in the future,” said Mr Qu at the side event.

IAEA Director General Grossi elaborated on the IAEA’s approach to supporting Member States and the tangible nature of IAEA-FAO support envisioned under the #Atoms4Food initiative.

“We are going to start with the self-assessments made by countries, because we believe that we need to follow their approaches and what is concerning for them. Then we will roll out tailormade projects and programmes for them,” said Mr Grossi.  “We are moving in a concrete way – not too much talk, but action. We will bring to the countries the solutions they need,” he added.

From food irradiation and climate smart agriculture to plant breeding and insect pest control, side event participants heard first-hand how the effects of climate change are being successfully addressed with nuclear applications. Representatives of China, Mexico, Turkey, the United States of America and Viet Nam provided specific examples of support from both UN organizations.

“The Joint FAO/IAEA Centre has made positive and concrete gains – as is highlighted with drought resistant crops and improved water use efficiency,” said Cary Fowler, United States Special Envoy for Food Security. He went on to underscore the support of the United States for #Atoms4Food: “We welcome this new initiative – it truly builds on the organizations’ strengths – the science of the IAEA and the FAO’s presence on the ground.”

The #Atoms4Food initiative was launched in October 2023 at the World Food Forum in Rome. It is comprehensive in scope and covers crop improvement, animal production and health, soil and water management and crop nutrition, insect pest control, food safety, and public health and nutrition.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

A new international IAEA technical cooperation project, launched on 2 December 2023 at a United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) side event, will catalyze the IAEA’s existing climate adaptation activities in food and water security to harness the already expansive interregional networks of laboratories and facilitate international collaboration. The new climate adaptation project aims to support national efforts to ensure successful and sustainable solutions to the impacts of climate change.  

Attendees at the side event heard panellists describe how extreme weather events around the world are affecting key natural resources. Floods and droughts, and the near disappearance of essential bodies of water mean that populations everywhere are having to do more with less. Nuclear techniques, the audience heard, work in combination with conventional techniques to help countries to tackle harsh climate conditions, providing accurate data that allows decision-makers to assess the evolving situation, and also offering a range of effective adaptation options. 

“Without isotope hydrology we would know nothing about the effects of climate change on water resources. The same is true for greenhouse gas emissions – if we want to develop targeted mitigation methods we need to identify where they are coming from,” explained Professor Christoph Müller of Justus Liebig University, speaking at the event. 

Participants at the IAEA COP28 side event also heard how the IAEA has been able to help farmers in Namibia precisely identify moisture levels in their fields using nuclear technology, enabling the successful deployment of drip irrigation techniques. By connecting nuclear technology with conventional agricultural techniques, participating farmers have been able to increase water use efficiency by 80 per cent. The IAEA also helps countries to apply other nuclear techniques for food treatment, insect pest control and plant breeding. At the moment, 146 countries are working with the IAEA on technical cooperation projects that address climate change adaptation.  

Panellists at the event lauded the importance of partnerships in implementing sustainable and far-reaching solutions to climate change challenges, including through the provision of funds for technical cooperation efforts. “We recognize that we need to scale up our engagement in the development sector and that we need to use technology to make crops more resistant to drought and other things,” said Zamir Iqbal, Islamic Development Bank Vice President of Finance. “We believe in the technology being promoted by the IAEA – we can make good use of it and our member states can benefit from it for sustainable development,” he added. 

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The IAEA has opened its Atoms4Climate pavilion at the annual UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) amid a rising wave of international support for scaling up the use of nuclear power to achieve global climate goals by slashing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming to net zero by 2050.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on 1 December officially kicked off the start of almost two weeks of activities and events at the IAEA pavilion aimed at raising awareness of the benefits of nuclear technology and applications in both mitigating and adapting to the effects of the climate crisis. The event featured a lively conversation on the growing support for nuclear power between Mr Grossi and Isabelle Boemeke, also known as Isodope, the world’s first nuclear influencer.

Earlier, Mr Grossi unveiled a landmark IAEA statement supported by dozens of countries that underscored the need for expanded use of nuclear power to fight climate change, achieve energy security and sustainable economic development, and build “a low carbon bridge” to the future. The IAEA appeal came amid other initiatives at COP28 also calling for a significant increase in nuclear power capacity to address the global climate crisis, and ahead of the first-ever Nuclear Energy Summit, to be hosted jointly by the IAEA and Belgium in Brussels in March 2024.

“If we want to achieve our climate targets, it will simply be impossible without nuclear energy,” Mr Grossi said as he announced the statement at an event together with Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan as well as Satkaliyev Almassadam, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Juhani Damski, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment of Finland.

Nuclear power currently provides almost 10 percent of the world’s electricity production, equivalent to around 25 percent of all low carbon electricity and contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Over the last five decades, nuclear power has avoided the emission of some 70 gigatonnes of greenhouse gases, including 30 gigatonnes alone since the start of the 21st century, according to the IAEA statement which also underscored nuclear power’s role in ensuring energy supply security, stabilizing electrical grids, and reducing local air pollution.

“We understand with more than 60 percent of electricity generation powered by coal, we see no other significant alternative other than nuclear power plants to ensure reliable electricity supplies,” Energy Minister Almassadam said about Kazakhstan, which is considering building a new nuclear power plant.

Mr Grossi noted that global attitudes towards nuclear power have undergone a massive shift since 2019, when he attended his first climate summit at COP25 in Madrid shortly after becoming IAEA Director General. The question he had asked himself then, he said, was: “How can this annual conference talking about energy issues and how they impact the environment be taking place without talking about the source of energy that provides around 25 percent of the world’s electricity? This was an omission and I’m not here to debate the reasons for that. The good thing is this has been overcome and we are putting things right, in the right perspective.”

Several authoritative studies, including by the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), suggest that a significant increase in world nuclear power capacity will be needed to limit the average global temperature increase since pre-industrial times to 1.5 degrees Celsius, thereby averting the most devastating effects of climate change.

Finland, seeking to become carbon neutral by 2035, in April began operating a new 1600 megawatt-electric nuclear reactor at Olkiluoto that will provide almost 15 percent of the country’s electricity and has helped bring down power prices for consumers by some 75 percent. A recent public opinion poll shows more than two-thirds of Finns support nuclear power while only 6 percent oppose it.

Mr Damski attributed high Finnish public approval of nuclear power to several factors, including transparent communications about its decarbonization and energy security benefits, early involvement by policy makers, local stakeholder engagement, and a national programme to develop what is set to become the world’s first operative facility to dispose of high level nuclear waste.

“Nuclear energy has a very key role to play in climate change mitigation,” Mr Damski said. “This is a strong tool for the climate battle, and this is why it’s important for us in Finland.”

But nuclear power also plays an important role in sustainable socioeconomic development. Bangladesh, Egypt and Turkey are all constructing their first nuclear power reactors, and many of the almost 30 countries that are considering introducing nuclear power are in the developing world and working with the IAEA in developing the necessary infrastructure for a safe and secure nuclear power programme.

Armenia, where a single 416 MWe nuclear reactor generates about one third of the country’s electricity, has a longstanding engagement with the Agency in its efforts to ensure its safe long-term operation and effective plant life management. The country is now looking to build a new reactor to ensure energy security and economic growth, according to President Khachaturyan. “Nuclear is a very important question for Armenia,” he said.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

As world leaders convene at this year’s UN Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP28, the IAEA will host and participate in around 50 events from 30 November to 12 December 2023, highlighting the solutions nuclear science and technology can provide in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and monitoring.

The IAEA’s Atoms4Climate pavilion in the Blue Zone will feature events focussing on on four areas: energy, food, oceans and water. Low carbon nuclear energy can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while nuclear techniques can be used to enhance global food security, monitor ocean health, and improve access to clean water — all of which are impacted by climate change.

IAEA Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, will announce the IAEA Statement on Nuclear Power supported by dozens of countries, in a flagship event on Friday 1 December that will highlight the role of nuclear power as part of the energy mix. The event will be livestreamed. 

Speaking at an  IAEA Board of Governors meeting ahead of COP28, Mr Grossi said: “For the first time in the history of COP, nuclear countries will be able to say yes, we are here, yes, nuclear energy is part of the solution for this global climate crisis that we have.”

Mr Grossi will also join French President Emmanuel Macron and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Saturday 2 December, to announce the first-ever nuclear energy summit to be held in Brussels next year. The event will be livestreamed. Read more.

See the IAEA @COP28 page for the complete list of IAEA and partner events.

Net Zero

The latest Emissions Gap Report from the United Nations Environment Programme indicates the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 28 per cent to limit the increase in global average temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and by 42 per cent to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius  — both goals set in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. COP28 will mark the first “global stocktake” under the agreement, a comprehensive assessment of the progress that countries have made on reaching their goals to cut emissions.

There is consensus within the climate community that energy sector carbon emissions will have to be reduced to net zero by around the middle of the century to meet these goals. Nuclear power, which accounts for about 10 per cent of global electricity generation and provides about one quarter of the world’s low carbon electricity, has a key role to play in a net zero future.

What is net zero? What is the role of nuclear power and innovations?

Nuclear power offers affordability, resilience and security of energy supply and can be used alongside renewables to achieve net zero. The IAEA’s Atoms4NetZero initiative provides decision makers with comprehensive, data-driven energy scenario modelling that includes the full potential of nuclear power in contributing to net zero emissions, helping to fill a gap in studies used by governments and financial institutions in support of new nuclear power projects.

On 5 December, high level international representatives will meet at the Atoms4Climate Pavilion for an event entitled Is Nuclear Deployment Too Slow for Net Zero? The panel will relate their experiences, with the aim of dispelling the common myth that nuclear energy is too slow to help meet decarbonization targets.

On 10 December, the Atoms4Climate Pavilion will host a forum on the theme of Building Clean and Resilient Energy Systems.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

“This report provides information on the type and amount of data that need to be collected for different imaging modalities — for example X rays or computed tomography (CT) scans — and on the different analytical uses of these data for medical facilities to ensure justified and optimized use of radiation in medical imaging,” said Miroslav Pinak, Head of the IAEA Radiation and Monitoring Section.

Medical imaging procedures represent the largest artificial source of ionizing radiation to which people are exposed, with around 4.2 billion performed each year around the world, a number that continues to rise.

The new publication encourages countries to move away from manual processes and adopt digital means of data recording and collection, which provide more accurate and efficient results.

“The guidelines can be applied to manual means of collecting and analysing exposure data, as these are still the only option available in many places. However, the publication highlights the greater benefits of using automatic digital systems for the collection and analysis of exposure data,” said Jenia Vassileva, a former IAEA radiation protection specialist, who was the focal point for this publication. “The report also recognizes the importance of standardizing data recording and collection, to ensure compatibility of data coming from different facilities and equipment.”

Previously, the analysis of doses received by patients from radiological imaging procedures relied on estimated dose values based on small samples of standard-size patients, and data collection was performed manually. Automated exposure monitoring systems can record and collect larger and more accurate amounts of data from radiological procedures and facilitate their analysis. This digital process allows medical professionals to better account for factors that influence doses and image quality, such as the patient’s weight, height and age, the imaged area of the body, and the equipment used. Such systems help radiology professionals to optimize doses to each individual patient- so that these are not unusually low or unusually high- and they also contribute to minimize unnecessary radiological procedures.

Patients who need recurrent imaging examinations over time can benefit from digital systems and electronic registries, which improve the tracking and sharing of exposure data for the whole sequence of images performed on the patient, minimizing unnecessary repeated procedures and optimizing future examinations.

 “The publication is a step forward in improving access to data on patient doses. This will facilitate the global data collection on medical exposure coordinated by UNSCEAR and the assessment of trends and patterns of radiological examinations, thus helping identify gaps in radiation protection and supporting epidemiological studies on radiation effects,” says Ferid Shannoun, Deputy Secretary at UNSCEAR.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The two leaders also discussed global non-proliferation issues, including the situation regarding Iran.

President Macron and Director General Grossi agreed for the need to highlight nuclear power’s potential to mitigate climate change at the upcoming COP28 international climate conference where the IAEA, France and Belgium will also announce the first-ever nuclear energy summit to be held in Brussels next year.

In a world where the full potential of nuclear power as part of a low carbon energy mix is still not fully recognized, France plays a unique global role in advancing this technology, Mr Grossi said. France’s 56 nuclear power plants account for more than 60 per cent of the total French electricity generation – the largest share worldwide. The figure is expected to rise as the country builds an additional reactor, plans to construct at least six more and considers the future deployment of small modular reactors.  

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

The IAEA is calling for young people to participate in high level and technical discussions on nuclear security in next year’s International Conference on Nuclear Security: Shaping the Future (ICONS 2024). Interested university students and early career professionals are invited to apply for the Nuclear Security Delegation for the Future. Ten successful applicants will be chosen to participate and will have their expenses covered for the conference in Vienna next May.  

“Giving a voice to the young generation is of utmost importance for shaping the future of nuclear security,” said Elena Buglova, Director of the IAEA’s Division of Nuclear Security. “Through the call for participation in the Nuclear Security Delegation for the Future, we are looking for young candidates with a passionate vision to engage in the international nuclear security dialogue.” 

The Nuclear Security Delegation for the Future is an opportunity for students and early career professionals to develop or refine their leadership, communication and diplomacy skills, by interacting with nuclear security professionals from around the world during ICONS 2024. 

Interested university students (undergraduate and graduate) and early career professionals with less than five years of work experience related to nuclear security from all IAEA Member States are invited to submit a comprehensive resume and a letter of motivation by 1 February 2024. A selection committee will review the submissions and interview a limited number of applicants to choose the ten members of the Nuclear Security Delegation for the Future.  

The ten successful applicants will be actively involved before and during ICONS 2024 in important parts of the conference. The results of their deliberations will be presented at ICONS 2024. The young delegates will also have opportunities for professional development including interactive sessions with senior officials, policy makers and nuclear security experts representing countries, industry and international organizations.   

The IAEA will cover the financial cost for the ten selected applicants’ attendance to ICONS 2024, including their travel and accommodation expenses. 

Details are available in the Nuclear Security Delegation for the Future announcement.  

For any relevant questions you can contact: ICONS2024 

ICONS 2024: Registration is open 

ICONS 2024 will be the fourth ministerial-level international conference on nuclear security. The upcoming conference programme includes both a ministerial and a technical segment, inviting participants to discuss nuclear security with a focus on the future. It will bring together ministers, senior government officials, high-level staff from agencies involved in making policy for, and managing, nuclear security, and technical and legal experts working in all areas of nuclear security. The conference aims to attract industry and civil society representatives, including non-governmental organizations and academic institutions. 

For more information about registration and participation see: Participation and Registration: International Conference on Nuclear Security: Shaping the Future.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Mr Grossi said that many of the IAEA’s initiatives relied on the IAEA’s laboratories in Seibersdorf. He announced the “very good news” that fundraising was now complete for the renewal of the Nuclear Application Laboratories (ReNuAL) initiative, describing them as “a unique asset” for countries around the world in his statement.  

Mr Grossi thanked the countries who had donated to the ReNuAL initiative for their generosity. To celebrate the achievement and to recognize recent contributions from Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Ireland, and the United States, the IAEA is planning a ReNuAL side event on the margins of the March 2024 Board of Governors meeting.

He thanked Germany and South Africa for acting as co-chairs and facilitating the successful completion of the project.

The IAEA’s Technical Cooperation department was also praised by Mr Grossi, which was the focus of a Technical Assistance and Cooperation Committee (TACC) meeting earlier this week. “Our technical cooperation programme is a major vehicle for the delivery of IAEA development support to Member States, and a core component of ‘Atoms for Peace and Development’,” he said in his statement.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

How can we provide a reliable supply of energy far out to sea, or on an island, or in a coastal community?  The typical answer is by using fossil-fuelled generators.  But as efforts to decarbonize global energy systems expand, one of the answers could be to use a floating nuclear power plant (FNPP).

Interest is growing in installing small modular reactors (SMRs) on floating barges or platforms to provide clean electricity and heat for remote coastal locations, to decarbonize offshore oil and gas or mining activities, or even to provide grid scale electricity production, unlocking cost reductions through serial production in shipyards. At an IAEA symposium on floating nuclear power plants that took place from 14-15 November 2023 in Vienna, legal experts, nuclear and maritime regulators, and industry leaders discussed the benefits and challenges of FNPPs and exactly what role they could play in the fight against climate change and the transition to Net Zero.

Opening the meeting, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that in many countries “there is active consideration of floating nuclear power plants”.  However, as part of discussions about their viability and potential applications, the Director General said that safeguards and the international legal and regulatory implications needed to be thoroughly analysed.

Nuclear energy has already been in use for about 60 years in naval ships and icebreakers propulsion. However, FNPPs are different since they will produce low-carbon power and heat for different applications, including district heating, desalination and hydrogen production.

Floating NPPs can be built in a factory, assembled in a shipyard and transported to a site, all of which may help to speed up construction and keep costs down. Canada, China, Denmark, South Korea, Russia and the USA are each working on marine small modular reactor designs, some are in advanced development, and Russia even has one FNPP, the Akademik Lomonosov, in commercial operation in the far east of the country. The Akademik Lomonosov FNPP has been in operation, producing electricity and district heating, since 2020. It has replaced the shut down Bilibino NPP and the aging Chaunsk coal power plant.

However, it is the very mobility of these FNPPs that raises new questions, particularly when they move across international borders or operate in international, rather than territorial, waters. For example, how does the licensing and regulation process work when a FNPP is built and fuelled in one country’s jurisdiction, and then transported to another jurisdiction?

“The IAEA is working with our Member States to determine what further guidance and standards might be needed to ensure the safety of floating nuclear power plants”, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, Lydie Evrard, said. “The IAEA’s safety standards serve as the global reference for protecting people and the environment from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation. There are also considerable legal and regulatory challenges that must be addressed if a truly international floating nuclear power market is to emerge,” she said.

Topan Setiadipura, the Co-Chair of the Symposium and Head of the Research Centre for Nuclear Reactor Technology (BRIN) in Indonesia said, “to some extent, floating NPPs are an interesting option for Indonesia as many power or utilities companies have floating diesel power plants or floating gas power plants”. However, acquiring more information and knowledge is essential to understanding whether embarking countries like Indonesia could use FNPPs in the future to replace fossil-fuelled floating power plants, he said.

During the symposium, discussions focused on current and future designs of FNPPs and their uses, including, for example, as a floating offshore installation for production of clean hydrogen to be converted into green ammonia for use in agriculture or as a low carbon shipping fuel. Participants also examined the specific challenges that the movability of FNPPs pose for their licensing, regulation, transportation and application of safeguards. Nuclear safety and security were discussed, including the extent to which the current standards and practices can, or cannot, be applied to FNPPs. The symposium’s concluding session identified the next possible steps to enable the deployment of floating nuclear power plants, including the establishment of a mechanism to improve communication between the nuclear and maritime industry on one hand, and regulators on the other, with focus on application of security and safeguards by design. 

“Getting to Net Zero requires the use of all clean energies available,” Mikhail Chudakov, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy, told the gathering. “Floating nuclear power plants are not in competition with land-based SMRs but extend the use and potential of such nuclear technology to reach our Net Zero targets.”

The symposium was organized in the frame of the Agency-wide Platform on SMRs and their Applications which aims at providing consistent and coordinated support to Member States for the development, deployment and oversight of SMRs. Through the Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI), the IAEA also brings together policy makers, regulators, designers, vendors and operators to harmonize and standardize regulatory and industrial approaches to enable the effective global deployment of safe and secure advanced nuclear reactors.

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency – IAEA

Rays of Hope

Since the Rays of Hope initiative began on World Cancer Day in 2022, the ‘first wave’ countries of Benin, Chad, DRC, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, and Senegal have received a range of key radiotherapy and medical imaging machines – as well as training for the medical professionals needed to operate the equipment and provide safe and timely diagnostic and treatment services. The IAEA has six decades of experience in helping countries fight cancer, including in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO). The assistance provided by the IAEA has enabled many countries to establish and/or strengthen safe, secure and effective radiation medicine (radiotherapy, radiology and nuclear medicine) capabilities.

While in high-income countries nearly all patients have access to radiotherapy, in middle-income countries fewer than 60 percent do. In low-income countries, the figure drops to just only one in ten people with access to this life-saving treatment.

Integrated cancer care can help to prevent one third of all cancers, including some of the most common forms such as cervical, breast, head and neck, and colorectal cancers. Investments in diagnosis and treatment can enable diseases to be detected early and treated appropriately. The most prominent types of cancer in the DRC are prostate cancer in men with around 7471 new cases annually, and cervical cancer in women with around 7772 new cases per year, according to the online cancer statistics database GLOBOCAN.