(As prepared for delivery)
Mr President, excellencies, distinguished delegates,
I would like to start by congratulating His Excellency Mr. Philemon Yang on his assumption of the office of the President of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. It’s an honour to address the General Assembly, to present the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 2023, and to update you on the Agency’s work.
A month ago, in this very Hall, nations convened for the Summit of the Future and agreed the Pact for the Future, re-affirming the core role of multilateralism at the centre of our global efforts toward international peace and security and sustainable development.
Through its unique mandate, the IAEA supports the foundations on which tomorrow is built.
Every day on every continent, the IAEA assists nations in overcoming challenges like diseases, poverty, hunger, pollution and climate change. In partnership with our 178 Member States, we are enabling communities to improve healthcare, agriculture, and energy systems through the power of nuclear science and technology.
Meanwhile, we are verifying that the nuclear material and facilities engaged in such life-affirming pursuits are not diverted to for nuclear weapons.
Mr President,
Let me begin with the work we have been doing to assist Member States in addressing an existential challenge that affects every person on this planet: climate change.
Today’s storms, floods and droughts are clear and frightening signposts, warning us that we must make fast progress to avoid an even more disastrous future. But they are not the only indicators of the future. There are other signs that show we are moving in the right direction.
Since the last time I spoke to this distinguished gathering, a key decision has been made that promises to accelerate our progress towards our climate goals. At the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, the world finally embraced a technology that has already proven it can provide us with reliable, 24/7 low-carbon power. Today, nuclear energy produces a quarter of all low-carbon electricity and now the world is finally saying “we need more”. In the historic first Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement approved at COP28, the 198 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change included nuclear among the technologies whose deployment needs to be accelerated for deep and rapid global decarbonization.
The shift in acceptance of nuclear energy reflects the realization that we will not get to net-zero carbon emissions without the technology that has the added ability to reach hard-to-abate areas such as industry and transportation through the production of heat and hydrogen. Some countries are also looking to nuclear to provide drinking water via desalination.
More than 20 countries attending COP28 pledged to work towards the goal of tripling nuclear capacity by 2050.
In March, the IAEA convened the first Nuclear Energy Summit, bringing together heads of state to agree concrete steps needed to move from consensus to construction.
The big shift in global attitude towards nuclear is already spurring policy changes and investment from Asia to the Americas.
Today, 415 nuclear power reactors operating in 31 countries make up more than 374 gigawatts of installed capacity, providing almost 10 per cent of the world’s total electricity and a quarter of its low-carbon supply. Another 59 reactors totaling almost 62 gigawatts are under construction in 15 countries, three of which are newcomers, Bangladesh, Egypt and Türkiye.
Of the 30 or so countries that are currently either considering nuclear power or embarking on it, more than half are in the developing world. And many of these are in Africa. It is imperative that developing countries, where electricity use is going to grow the most, have the full choice of low-carbon sources of energy. That includes nuclear. But financing nuclear power programs remains a challenge. The private sector has a role to play and so do multilateral development banks, which can advance sustainable development by assessing nuclear project bankability.
At the IAEA, we offer the Milestone Approach to establishing a nuclear programme, publish safety standards and security guidance, and map out the path to carbon neutrality through our Atoms4NetZero initiative. In a few weeks, I will again be at COP, this time taking place in Azerbaijan, to make sure that countries have the information and support they need to make fact-based decisions in this crucial area.
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) potentially offer more affordable and flexible ways to power small grids, including those of developing countries and energy-hungry industries, such as digital technology and mining.
The IAEA’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative brings together all stakeholders in an effort to facilitate the timely and safe deployment of advanced reactors, including SMRs. These reactors can be built in factories far away from their final destination and their modularity allows for gradual investments as and when more capacity is needed.
The growing interest in nuclear energy across the world is reflected in the IAEA’s projections. In its new outlook for global nuclear capacity for electricity generation, the Agency increased its projections for a fourth consecutive year. In the high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity in 2050 would be two and a half times bigger than today and SMRs would make up a quarter of that increase.
Regardless of which energy mix best serves a nation individually, all nations benefit when investments in nuclear energy are made because they mitigate climate change and air pollution, global ills that do not respect national boundaries.
Unlike fossil fuels, nuclear energy accounts for and carefully stores all its waste. In 2023, the Agency continued to work with its Member States in waste management and decommissioning of nuclear installations; including through its international peer-review missions.
In the search for almost limitless clean energy, the progress made by scientists and engineers in fusion energy may be placing us closer to the goal line than many had expected just a few years ago.
In this context I am establishing the World Fusion Energy Group (WFEG). It will be a platform through which to bring together the public and private sectors, industry, academia and civil society to accelerate the fusion energy journey from research and development to demonstration and ultimately to deployment. The IAEA, together with the Government of Italy, is organizing a ministerial meeting of the WFEG on 6 November in Rome.
Mr President,
On a number of occasions, I updated the Security Council on the situation in Ukraine, where the safety of one of Europe’s biggest nuclear power programmes is being undermined by war.
In response, I formulated and presented to the UN Security Council in May last year the Five Principles of protecting nuclear safety and security at Zaphorizhzhya NPP, which supplement the earlier 7 pillars of nuclear safety and security during an armed conflict.
The bottom line is that nuclear power plants and the electricity infrastructure crucial to keeping them safe should not become part of the theatre of war.
Since establishing a continued presence at Ukraine’s nuclear facilities two years ago, the IAEA has deployed more than 140 support and assistance missions. Agency experts continue to be stationed at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, which remains in cold shutdown at the front lines of the war; at the Chornobyl site; and at Ukraine’s operating nuclear power plants: Rivne, Khmelnytskyy, and South Ukraine.
As I have reported in my regular updates, the situation at the Zaporizhzhya NPP remains precarious. Regular explosions, drone attacks, gunfire; repeated interruptions of external power supply, among other challenges, increase the risk of a nuclear accident.
We continue to deliver nuclear safety and security-related equipment, as well as medical equipment to Ukraine.
The IAEA’s experts, many of whom work at our laboratories in Austria and Monaco, provide scientific data based upon which important policy decisions are made.
The information we provide splits fact from fiction and provides the transparency crucial to upholding the social compact between those who harness nuclear science, technology and their applications, and the public.
Japan has conducted multiple discharges into the sea, of ALPS-treated water stored at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Through several missions, the IAEA has concluded that Japan’s approach to the discharge is consistent with the requirements of relevant international safety standards.
The IAEA is monitoring the process continuously, collecting samples and carrying out independent analysis. Our experts have confirmed that the associated tritium concentrations have been far below Japan’s operational limit and in line with international safety standards. We have made this information public on a dedicated page on the IAEA website.
By the time this multi-year process is complete, the IAEA will have been there from before the first released drop to after the last.
Around the world, the Agency’s Safety Standards and Nuclear Security Guidance assist Member States in reducing the risk of harm to people and the environment.
Our safeguards teams are inspecting ever-greater quantities of nuclear material and increasing numbers of facilities, assuring the international community of their peaceful uses while remaining firm, objective and diligent, always. In 2023, there were almost 236 000 significant quantities of nuclear material under IAEA safeguards and the IAEA conducted more than 14 000 days of in-field verification activities.
In relation to IAEA verification activities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, during my tenure I have continued to report on both the implementation of Iran’s NPT Safeguards Agreement as well as verification and monitoring undertaken in light of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231(2015).
With regard to the NPT Safeguards Agreement, it is a matter of concern that significant safeguards issues remain outstanding after a number of years. Though we appear to have reached an impasse, my correspondence so far with Iran’s new government has been constructive and open and I hope to visit the country in the not-too-distant future.
Following on from the IAEA’s verification role under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), I remain actively engaged and the IAEA remains ready to play its indispensable part as the matter evolves. It is critical that the Agency through its verification activities in Iran, be able to provide credible assurances that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful.
Currently, 191 States have safeguards agreements in force with the Agency and 143 of these States also have Additional Protocols in force. I call upon the remaining three states parties to the NPT without comprehensive safeguards agreements to bring such agreements into force without delay. I also encourage states that have not yet concluded additional protocols to do so as soon as possible. Further, I reiterate my call for states with small quantities protocols (SQP) based on the old standard text to amend or rescind them. The old standard SQP is simply not adequate for our current safeguards system.
The continuation of the nuclear programme of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is in clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions and is deeply regrettable. The IAEA has continued to monitor developments in the DPRK’s nuclear programme from outside its borders.
Making progress in areas of international peace and security requires steadfast diplomatic engagement. This is true also in the realm of non-proliferation.
In March, I travelled to the Syrian Arab Republic and met with President Bashar -al-Assad. I welcome Syria’s renewed engagement with the Agency in relation to the unresolved safeguards issues and I am pleased that after 15 years of stagnation, we are making gradual and prudent progress towards clarifying them.
Mr President,
In a world divided and facing serious unresolved challenges such as hunger, disease, pollution and climate change, international organizations must strive to make a greater positive impact in assisting their Member States to achieve their priority goals.
The IAEA has more than 60 years of experience, partnering with its Member States to increase their capacity to use nuclear science and technology to fight such challenges. In many such areas, the international community, with the support of the family of UN organizations, has made remarkable progress, including, for example, in reducing the number of people who are hungry. But too many people still suffer from problems that are solvable.
This is why I have launched key initiatives that empower our Member States, in partnership with the IAEA, to make an even greater difference to their own people and to those living beyond their borders. These initiatives are: Zoonotic Diseases Integrated Action (ZODIAC), Nutec Plastics, Rays of Hope, and Atoms4Food.
Atoms4Food, the IAEA’s joint initiative with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), assists countries in using nuclear science and technology to improve agricultural practices, food security, food safety and nutrition. It is helping farmers, communities and economies adapt to the enormous challenges of climate change, while reducing the negative impact agricultural production can have on the environment, scarce water resources and fragile ecosystems.
Great strides have been made in diagnosing and treating cancer, but these have not yet reached millions of people living in middle and low-income countries. Too many families are mourning a loved one whose life could have been saved through better health care, including through radiotherapy. The IAEA’s Rays of Hope: Cancer Care for All is working with Member States to expand access to quality medical imaging and radiotherapy treatment. Since launching the initiative in February 2022, more than 80 countries have sought to benefit from it and, so far, concrete actions have been initiated in more than 30 Member States. Ten cancer care and research institutions have been recognized as Rays of Hope Anchor Centres and now serve as regional knowledge and training hubs spread across all regions. Rays of Hope works holistically and in concert with international partners including the World Health Organization.
In January, I travelled to Antarctica to mark the start of a mission by IAEA scientists studying microplastics in this pristine environment. It is part our NUTEC Plastics initiative, which is assisting Member States with two important tasks: to reduce the amount of plastic waste by using irradiation in recycling, and to make better-informed policy decisions by using isotopic and other techniques to study marine microplastics pollution.
In the past year, Member States have continued to face outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, most recently of Mpox.
The IAEA’s Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action, or ZODIAC, assists Member States in improving their capability to detect viruses and respond quickly to outbreaks. We have trained 1 500 people from more than 95 Member States, including in dealing with Mpox. In addition, laboratories in 41 countries have received equipment for serology and molecular diagnostic or genetic sequencing.
Meanwhile, the IAEA has reacted quickly to offer fast support in emergencies from disease outbreaks to earthquakes.
To take stock of our progress in partnership with Member States and to chart the future, we will hold the IAEA Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Science, Technology and Applications and the Technical Cooperation Programme next month.
Many of our initiatives and much of our assistance to Member States benefit from our laboratories. Thanks to the leadership and vision of its supporters, the modernization of IAEA Nuclear Applications Laboratories in Seibersdorf is progressing towards completion by the end of this year and we expect them to be operational in 2025.
Mr President,
For systems and people to thrive, everyone must be able to fully benefit and fully contribute.
I am determined to lift the barriers that women, in particular, face.
Conviction requires action. When I began my tenure as the IAEA’s Director General five years ago, one of my very first actions was to set a goal for gender parity by 2025 and to put in place the policies to achieve a more diverse workforce.
Five years ago, women represented less than 30% of the Agency. Today, they have surpassed 48%.
During this time, we have also worked hard to boost the numbers of women entering the nuclear field beyond our walls. Improving the gender balance in nuclear not only benefits women, but also the sector. Increasing innovation through diverse teams and providing a larger pool of talent are crucial to this growing field. Failure would cause bottlenecks that prevent nuclear science and technology from achieving their full potential in supporting lives and livelihoods across the world.
The IAEA’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme has awarded scholarships to 560 women from more than 120 countries who are studying nuclear subjects at the Master’s degree level. And our Lise Meitner Programme has offered women career-enhancing experiences like visits to nuclear facilities in the US and South Korea.
Mr President,
We see it all over the world, in villages and across continents: when people work together towards shared goals, divisions are overcome.
In a world plagued by geopolitical tensions, diplomacy and cross-border collaboration strengthen international security and advance sustainable development. This is what the IAEA has been working on since I last addressed you a year ago. As I conclude today’s remarks, I would like to thank you for your support of the IAEA’s indispensable work and promise you that we will continue to use the organization’s unique mandate, precious resources and dedicated staff to make an even bigger positive impact for our Member States in the year to come.