The IAEA: Rising to Today’s Challenges and Maximising the Huge Advantages of Nuclear Science and Technology

(As ready for supply)

Madam President, excellencies, distinguished delegates,

I wish to begin by congratulating Her Excellency Ms. Annalena Baerbock on her assumption of the workplace of the President of the eightieth session of the United Nations General Assembly. It is an honour to deal with the General Assembly, to current the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 2024, and to replace you on the Agency’s work. I wish to commend and thank His Excellency Mr Ian Biggs of Australia, chairperson of the IAEA’s Board of Governors, for his efforts in finalizing the draft decision on the report of the Agency.

This General Assembly is going on at an important second. Conflict, the erosion of worldwide norms, and the hole between poor and wealthy are pulling on the material of our coexistence.

At instances like these, International Organizations have a choice to make: Either proceed alongside the trail as if nothing has modified or recognise the challenges we face and select paths that meet them.

At the IAEA we have now our eyes broad open to immediately’s realities, and I’ll endeavour to explain the paths we’re taking to assist worldwide peace and safety.

We work on the intersection of nuclear non-proliferation, power safety and growth. Our distinctive mandate ranges from lowering the danger of extra international locations having nuclear weapons to utilizing nuclear science and know-how to assist assist our 180 Member States in assembly their financial, environmental and social targets.

In essence, we assist the world reply a elementary query, that for greater than 80 years has formed its existence: How can we use the atom? Do we use it to beat illness, starvation, air pollution and power insecurity, or can we use it as a weapon able to ending life on earth as we all know it?

The IAEA widens the entry to nuclear science, know-how and know-how. That consists of, radiotherapy machines that diagnose most cancers; nuclear energy crops that present low-carbon power; and nuclear science purposes that enhance agriculture, observe air pollution, and supply the details on which sound coverage is made.

The IAEA helps nuclear security and safety in order that nuclear science and know-how profit individuals and the atmosphere and don’t hurt them, even at instances of struggle.

As Director General I journey the world over fulfilling the IAEA’s mandate. At instances of diplomatic disagreements, I’ve used my good places of work to fulfill with leaders on opposing sides. The IAEA’s presence and its scientific know-how has introduced readability in troublesome and unprecedented circumstances, from elucidating the state of affairs at nuclear energy crops on the entrance traces of the struggle in Ukraine to offering trusted evaluation of water samples off the coast of Fukushima.

Responding to unprecedented challenges and alternatives has meant making use of our mandate and all of the property of the IAEA in new methods amid tight budgets being made even tighter by inflation.

Madam President,

Let me begin with our position because the world’s nuclear watchdog after which describe in additional element our work supporting social and financial growth.

When the IAEA confirms the peaceable use of a State’s nuclear materials, confidence over nuclear actions is established. History exhibits that when confidence disappears, worldwide peace and safety are in danger. This was the case within the DPRK, in Iraq, in Syria and most just lately in Iran.

Last yr, the Agency carried out greater than 3 000 in-field verification actions in additional than 1 300 amenities, with greater than 240 000 vital portions of nuclear materials underneath its safeguards. As a end result, we had been ready to attract safeguards conclusions for 175 States for which safeguards had been utilized. Where there have been unanswered questions, we have now been agency, honest and steadfast in our efforts of engagement.

In June, after the assaults on Iranian nuclear amenities, we needed to withdraw our inspectors. In September in Cairo, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Dr Abbas Araghchi and I signed, underneath the auspices of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, an settlement that gives a transparent understanding of the procedures for inspection, notifications, and implementation.

It is now time to implement the settlement. I’m assured {that a} return of IAEA inspectors and the resumption of safeguards implementation in Iran would function an indication that agreements and understandings are doable. Nothing can change dialogue within the pursuit of sturdy, lasting options to worldwide challenges.

Both in worldwide organizations and in diplomacy it’s as essential to know alternatives, as it’s to rise to challenges. We should pursue each probability to deliver States again into the fold of the worldwide group. The IAEA has been doing this in Syria. I’ve met with President Ahmed Al-Sharaa as we glance to make clear and shut a chapter of Syria’s previous nuclear actions and allow the Syrian individuals to learn from the peaceable purposes of nuclear science and know-how.

The international nuclear non-proliferation regime is underneath vital pressure and we have to shield it. This is a message I shared with the Security Council just a few months in the past.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear weapons programme continues in contravention of a number of UN Security Council resolutions.

But even inside some international locations in good standing with their obligations underneath the NPT, there at the moment are open discussions about whether or not or to not purchase nuclear weapons.

We are not looking for a world with dozens of nuclear-armed States. In instances like these, your assist of the non-proliferation regime, the NPT and the IAEA, is much more essential to worldwide peace and safety.

In April subsequent yr, right here at UN headquarters, the IAEA will once more report back to the NPT Review Conference on its work making operational this important treaty.

Madam President,

The struggle in Ukraine – the primary to threaten a serious nuclear energy programme – continues to threaten nuclear security and safety. Frequent energy outages brought on by the preventing, and navy actions close to the NPPs, heighten the danger of a nuclear accident at Europe’s greatest Nuclear Power Plant.

Despite appreciable challenges, together with, greater than as soon as, direct assaults on our groups, the IAEA maintains an uninterrupted presence in any respect the crops, rotating employees out and in of the realm. They are offering indispensable assist, actively helping operators in taking care of the Seven Pillars of nuclear security and safety and the Five Principles for shielding the Zaporizhzhya NPP, which we established on the UN Security Council in 2023, whereas retaining the worldwide group knowledgeable by common updates.

In spite of the difficulties, I’ve saved an open dialogue with each side, assembly with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation and President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to maintain this horrible struggle from inflicting much more distress by a nuclear accident with radiological penalties. Meanwhile, we proceed to ship nuclear security and security-related gear, in addition to medical gear to Ukraine.

In one other space of significance for nuclear security, I’ve mentioned that the IAEA shall be there earlier than, throughout and after the discharge into the ocean of the water that after cooled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station’s reactors broken within the 2011 accident and has been handled and saved.

Under the IAEA, unbiased monitoring, sampling, and evaluation of the water has confirmed tritium ranges which can be effectively beneath regulatory and operational limits. In response to regional issues, we launched further trust-building measures that expanded worldwide involvement within the course of.

Madam President,

For a long time, scientists have been elevating the alarm over the impression of dangerous greenhouse gases on our planet and its individuals. But for a few years, many individuals – together with coverage makers – appeared away from a vital, confirmed low-carbon power sources that’s secure and scalable.

But the tide has now turned, and we have now seen a return to realism in the case of nuclear power. Facts and the necessity for power safety have firmly overtaken misplaced ideology and the world has agreed that international local weather targets can’t be met with out it. Countries with nuclear programmes are increasing them, and about 30 “newcomer countries” are constructing or planning their first nuclear energy crops.
In 2024, 417 working nuclear energy reactors in 31 international locations produced about 10% of the world’s electrical energy and 1 / 4 of its low-carbon electrical energy. More than 60 new reactors had been underneath development and extra deliberate.

Projections had been once more raised, with the IAEA anticipating nuclear power capability to extend as a lot as two and a half instances by 2050. The momentum continues, however there’s work to do.

Three keys are required to unlock international nuclear capability at that scale: One, newcomer international locations require assist; two, regulation should adapt; and three, financing must be made doable. In all three areas the IAEA made sturdy progress. The IAEA’s Milestones Approach stays the gold normal in the case of growing a brand new nuclear programme, with our Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review missions supporting newcomer international locations.

Many international locations and industries are eager about utilizing Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Developing international locations see them as extra reasonably priced and applicable methods to energy their financial growth. Technology corporations need them to run the power hungry information centres fuelling the AI revolution. But first SMRs will should be deployed, and that may require regulators to replace their approaches with out compromising security. The IAEA’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) superior its work in bringing collectively regulators to harmonize their approaches to regulation, and business to standardize their method to design. We have organized workshops and SMR faculties in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and our SMR platform is a rising useful resource protecting all features of the know-how.

We continued to assist non-power purposes of nuclear power, from hydrogen manufacturing to industrial warmth, and seawater desalination to marine propulsion.

Developing international locations should not be left behind, and the IAEA has been working with many in assist of their needs to introduce nuclear power. We have additionally been working carefully with the World Bank and different worldwide monetary organizations to verify they’ve financing choices. I’m happy to notice that the World Bank this yr lifted its ban on supporting new nuclear power initiatives, marking a milestone and essential step in getting nuclear energy to international locations that need and wish it.

Madam President,

The vary of lifesaving and life-affirming makes use of of nuclear science and know-how is extraordinary. An important a part of the IAEA’s mandate is to widen their international attain. Our work on this space is deeply rooted in our mission of “Atoms for Peace and Development”. It is why lots of our Member States be a part of the IAEA and it’s foundational to creating lasting peace and safety.

Cancer is an acute disaster holding again many growing international locations. It is a disaster for the these affected by the illness and for the overwhelmed well being programs unable to supply satisfactory therapy, together with by using radiotherapy.

I’ve been decided that the IAEA, in shut collaboration with its Member States and different worldwide and monetary organizations, be the catalyst for doing extra. We have been doing this by the Rays of Hope initiative launched three years in the past. Through Rays of Hope, concrete actions have been taken in 40 international locations: hospitals have been constructed, radiotherapy machines procured, physicists skilled, and lives saved. We have greater than doubled the variety of Rays of Hope Anchor Centres that function regional hubs of excellence and coaching the world over.

But extra nonetheless must be carried out – we are going to proceed, energized by the success of the previous years.

Nuclear purposes have additionally been key in preventing communicable ailments. I do know that not certainly one of us desires to witness one other pandemic. But it’s clear that COVID is just not the final main zoonotic virus that we must cope with. The crucial is to catch their outbreak early. It is why, in the course of COVID-19, we launched Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action, or ZODIAC. It has improved the preparedness of nations all over the world. The ZODIAC community now could be really international, with 129 nationwide laboratories already concerned. More and extra probably devastating pathogens are being characterised, and the iVetNet platform now tracks information from greater than 2 400 establishments. We are nipping the specter of the following pandemic within the bud.

Madam President,

In a world of abundance, 700 million individuals mustn’t need to go to mattress hungry.

Atoms4Food is a joint initiative between the IAEA and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that gives tailored options to spice up meals safety, assist meals security and vitamin, and scale back agriculture’s pressure on the atmosphere. It is kind of unimaginable what nuclear science and its purposes can do.

Through Atoms4Food, we’re supporting using irradiation to create hardier kinds of crops like bananas, cassava, rice and sorghum.
Through isotope hydrology, we’re serving to communities higher handle their aquifers and water provides.

Harmful insect populations are being shrunk by the Sterile Insect Technique, lowering pests just like the fruit fly and New World Screwworm that decimate harvests and trigger ailments in livestock.

In marine environments, we’re preventing a distinct kind of pest. Microplastics are in every single place. They blight our frequent dwelling and are current within the farthest reaches of our ocean. To create insurance policies that sort out microplastic air pollution, we should first higher perceive it. We must know the way it travels by our ecosystems and what impression it’s having. The IAEA’s NUTEC Plastics initiative has two distinct approaches to coping with plastic air pollution. One helps 100 Member States wanting to make use of know-how like infra-red spectroscopy to observe and characterize microplastic marine air pollution. The second helps greater than 50 Member States seeking to radiation-assisted know-how to upcycle plastic waste into invaluable merchandise like development materials. Together, these approaches inform insurance policies and create pathways in direction of a round economic system wherein much less plastic results in the ocean within the first place.

Madam President,

I don’t deny that the world goes by severe political upheavals and that there are numerous issues in want of options.

But the long run has not been dimed. We should grasp alternatives, level out what is true with this world, and empower nations and folks to be a part of shaping their future. Optimism takes braveness and in instances like these we should discover methods to deliver individuals with us in hope.
In the historical past of humankind, we have now by no means earlier than had the prospect to know and achieve this a lot.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are giving every of us the prospect to create the long run we would like.

Nuclear power is again, and fusion power is approaching in leaps and bounds. Private capital and public programmes are accelerating progress in direction of demonstration crops. The IAEA is enjoying its personal half, by its World Fusion Energy Group, which is advancing work on regulatory frameworks, commercialization pathways and public engagement. We are bringing collectively the neatest individuals in AI with the neatest individuals in nuclear power to debate how nuclear energy can gasoline AI and the way AI can enhance the nuclear power sector.

Madam President,

Every problem is a chance. Peace is just not passive – it’s a dynamic, hopeful striving that requires all of us, men and women working collectively.

One the primary issues I did after I was elected Director General, was to announce the goal of getting equal numbers of women and men within the IAEA’s skilled and better jobs classes. It was a daring name on the time. Back then, ladies made up lower than 30 % of these roles, the IAEA was behind different members of the UN household, and the nuclear sector was removed from embracing its full potential pool of expertise. I’m proud to have the ability to let you know that we reached parity forward of our 2025 goal.

Meanwhile, our devoted programmes to widen the workforce of the worldwide nuclear sector proceed, together with the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme and the Lise Meitner Programme.

The IAEA has the steadfast assist of its Member States. This is a testomony to their perception in our mandate and in the way in which we’re fulfilling it.
We have proven that it’s doable to make an enormous constructive impression by utilizing the sources entrusted to us properly and effectively.

We have been working tougher and smarter amid a finances that has witnessed zero nominal development over a number of years of sturdy worth inflation.

Madam President, girls and gents,

The IAEA is indispensable, and it’ll proceed to be within the years to come back. Thank you for the assist you may have given me and the Agency. Together, we are going to proceed to rise to international challenges, keep constructive, grasp alternatives, and serve humanity actively and with a dedication that befits our noble trigger. The IAEA really and actually delivers, for all.

Thank you.