IAEA Board of Governors
Agenda Item 3: Strengthening the Agency’s activities related to nuclear science, technology and applications: Nuclear Technology Review 2022
Joint Pledge by Australia, Kuwait, Mexico, Qatar, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States
Chair
Today, our countries join together to draw attention to the IAEA’s Renovation of the Nuclear Applications Laboratories at Seibersdorf (ReNuAL) 2 project.
We recognize the leading role of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the demonstration and development of new applications of nuclear science and technology and in their deployment in IAEA Member States. We continue to attach great importance to support and promote access to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, science, and technology (“peaceful uses”), recognizing the growing variety of applications of nuclear and radiation technologies that have potential economic and environmental benefits.
The IAEA’s Nuclear Applications Laboratories play a critical role in the Agency’s promotion of peaceful uses. The laboratories develop practical technologies and help train Member States to build national capacities in areas such as human and animal health, food safety, agricultural productivity, dosimetry and nuclear instrumentation, climate change adaptation, and environmental protection.
We continue to support measures undertaken by the IAEA to renovate and modernize the Nuclear Applications Laboratories at Seibersdorf. This effort is vital for the Agency to keep pace with rapid technological developments and successfully respond to the requests of its Member States.
With a view to supporting the Agency as it identifies the funding needed to complete the final renovations of the laboratories next year, we jointly announce that our countries are supporting an allocation of available funds provided through extrabudgetary contributions to the Agency in the total amount of EUR6.7 million to complete the funding required to begin construction on the Flexible Modular Laboratory building in Seibersdorf, Austria.
These laboratories are an important dimension of our support to the IAEA as an institution carrying out the promise in Article IV of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Our statement demonstrates our countries’ commitments to enhance access to the peaceful application of nuclear energy under Article IV of the NPT.
Chair, in closing, I would like to reiterate again that our countries value highly the IAEA’s leading role in developing and promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and all its applications towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and we look forward to seeing the utilization of the new Flexible Modular Laboratory building to advance the health and prosperity of all IAEA Member States.
Thank you, Chair.