Good morning,
Unlike my two colleagues and friends, from whom you′ve just heard, I′m not an esteemed scientist. Indeed, I actually began life as a lawyer. But I′ve been involved with IAEA policy and management for the past couple of decades. So, this morning I′ll try to complement what you′ve just heard by setting the stage with a brief introduction to the IAEA itself. I′ll also provide a bit of background on the project that launched this conference, and consider what we hope can be achieved in these next two days.
First, regarding the Agency itself. I can introduce it in two ways. One way is to bombard you with all the relevant statistics: 144 Member States; 2,300 staff members; two scientific laboratory/research centres; offices in Tokyo, Toronto, Geneva and New York; an annual regular budget in the order of €280 million, supplemented by another $80 million contributed voluntarily for technical cooperation. That′s all accurate information, but, if I go on just rattling off statistics, I′m afraid I′ll have some, if not most, of you sleeping within minutes.
So, instead let′s approach the subject using a fundamental question. What does the IAEA actually do? Many of you will know of it as "the world′s nuclear watchdog" - frequently in the news for our inspection activities in Iran or North Korea. Most of that media coverage put us in a favourable light, but not all. But, in any event, it′s an incomplete picture; there is much more to the Agency - equally important functions that get precious little media attention.
So what I′d like to do for the next several minutes is give you some "snapshots" of key events in the Agency′s history, highlighting its evolution and demonstrating its role in science and technology.
I′ll start with a bare timeline. As you can see, it spans the Agency′s 50 years of existence... and a bit more.
That′s because our story actually begins several years earlier. That beginning, of course, took place in August 1945, when the destructive horror of nuclear weapons was vividly demonstrated, at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It′s a grim beginning - but one that, however painful the memory, we cannot afford to forget.
In the years immediately following World War II, there was increasing concern as additional countries were working to master the technology to develop such weapons. I remember well in the 1950s, as a schoolboy in the US, practising what to do in the case of a nuclear attack. As na?ve as that response was, the nuclear threat hanging over the world was, indeed, real.
During that same period, however - on a parallel track - the peaceful use of nuclear science was coming to be seen as a futuristic, "high tech" field - one that held great promise of transforming the way we live. There were predictions that electricity would become too cheap to meter, and far-fetched dreams - such as the use of an "atomic pill" to power cars. But, in fact, real nuclear applications were being developed - in medicine, agriculture, industry, and, of course, for the generation of electricity. Technologies with great potential to save lives, reduce suffering, and advance economic development.
So, the pressing issue was how to further develop and promote these beneficial, peaceful applications, while at the same time prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology. That was - and indeed still is - the "nuclear dilemma"!
In 1953 US President Eisenhower, who knew first-hand of the horrors of war, made an inspired appeal before the United Nations General Assembly - a proposal called "Atoms for Peace". In it, he advocated the worldwide pursuit of peaceful uses of this energy source; and the reduction of nuclear weapons stockpiles.
To lead this effort, he called for the establishment of "an International Atomic Energy Agency". And, it was in this spirit of "Atoms for Peace" that the IAEA was created shortly thereafter, in 1957. Just over a decade later, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons came into force - commonly known as the NPT. It′s based on a bargain: simply put, countries that join get access to peaceful nuclear technology - provided they renounce the development of nuclear weapons.
The NPT gave the IAEA unique powers of inspection. This has led to some noteworthy cases, such as the discovery and dismantlement of Iraq′s nuclear weapons programme in the early 1990s in the immediate wake of the first Gulf War. We were assigned to locate, map out and destroy all components of Iraq′s weapons programme; and to remove any nuclear material that could be used for weapons production. And we did the job!
But, of course, there is another chapter in the Iraq story - by 2002 the pressing question had become: Had Saddam Hussein revived his weapons of mass destruction programme? So the Security Council authorized our inspectors to return. They were granted broad authority, but as it turned out, they had precious little time to inspect that country which, by the way, is five times the size of Austria. After just a few months, in March 2003, on the eve of threatened war, we were asked to brief the Security Council at a highly charged, televised session. We reported that our inspectors had found no evidence of a renewed weapons programme.
The rest of the story is well known - despite our report, the invasion went forward, and now, four years on, the conflict continues. But, our conclusion has been shown to have been correct.
There, of course, have been other high-profile cases, such as the on-going issue of the nuclear programme in North Korea - the DPRK. Recent progress in the Six-Party Talks, and the visit earlier this year of the Agency′s Director General ElBaradei to the DPRK, have given some reason for optimism. But the story of North Korea′s nuclear programme is one that continues to play out; as does the case of Iran which, a week from today, will, once again, be a key issue at a meeting of our Board of Governors.
But beyond IAEA′s watchdog or safeguards activities, there is also our work in safety, security and the beneficial applications of nuclear techniques. Let me touch briefly on each.
In April of 1986, the world was hit with the shock-wave news of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union. At that time I was working in Washington, and was in the midst of moving from the White House, where I had served for several years, to the Department of Energy. But before I could even unpack my boxes, I was dispatched to Vienna, here to the IAEA, to consider, together with delegations from capitals around the world, the implications of the Chernobyl tragedy.
The outcome of the disaster was, of course, the recognition that insistence on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy was not enough. What was also needed was international collaboration and transparency in the operation and safety of nuclear power and other technologies.
In the aftermath of Chernobyl, the Agency′s comprehensive reports of the accident helped to move the international nuclear community to recognize the need for a global - not just a national - approach. What followed were safety conventions, or treaties; peer reviews of national safety regimes; strengthened safety standards; and, more recently, regional safety networks. But, the struggle to ensure nuclear safety is never-ending, we always consider it a "work in progress".
Of course, not all our work is driven by such startling events. More often we are involved in what are, unfortunately, "hidden" crises: concerning poverty, hunger and disease. And, this is where we implement the humanitarian component of our mission - promoting beneficial nuclear science and technology, especially in developing countries.
The Agency′s efforts to transfer these technologies began almost from the outset, in 1958, with a modest annual budget of $125 000. By the way, that amount included a donation of $2.01 presented to the Agency′s first Director General by a New York schoolboy and his classmates! Today the annual budget for this effort, as I noted, is nearly $80 million.
This work is facilitated by the Agency′s two laboratories that I mentioned - one of which is in Austria and the other right on the harbor in Monaco. That facility, founded in 1961, is known as the Marine Environment Lab. It deals with the health of the world′s oceans.
In 1967, the Agency joined forces with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to carry out joint work. And one of the success stories from this collaboration has been in the area of plant breeding - using radiation to speed up the natural selection process, thereby breeding crop varieties that are superior in various ways, such as having greater resistance to drought or salty water. The agricultural economies of many countries have benefited as a result.
Over the past several decades, the IAEA has undergone a conscious shift in how we manage our technical cooperation activities - deliberately moving from a technology-driven to a needs-driven programme. Today, we have in place literally hundreds of projects using nuclear techniques, tied to unique and pressing needs in Member States. They cover a broad spectrum - from helping locate desperately needed drinking water in Bangladesh, to using radiation sterilization to help eliminate insect pests, such as the tsetse fly, that kills livestock and humans in Africa. And we donated the monetary award that came with the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize to a project aimed at training cancer therapy specialists in developing countries.
As these examples demonstrate, the Agency brings different benefits to different Member States.
Recent years, of course, have also seen a rebirth of interest in nuclear power. There are compelling reasons for this trend. You know them. Safety and economics have improved. Countries have growing fears about energy security. We are seeing a sharp growth in energy demand - particularly in the developing world. And, of course, there are overwhelming concerns about global warming. The Agency provides assistance to countries considering the nuclear option, helping them to determine if it is right for them.
I hope these highlights succeeded in giving you some sense of the Agency′s history and evolution, and the role it plays in science and technology. But in any event let me summarize it in two ways:
First, the IAEA is central to the global nuclear enterprise. It is the caretaker of the NPT. It is a central hub from which developing countries gain access to peaceful nuclear technology. It is a driving force for nuclear safety and security. In short, by managing the nuclear dilemma it is an organization in which all countries have a stake.
At the same time it acts as a repository for a massive amount of data on a broad variety of nuclear technologies. We compile and analyze the raw data reported by our Member States. And, this data allows us to track national, regional, and global trends in nuclear science and technology development.
That role might not sound terribly exciting, but I can tell you that scientists, teachers, students and researchers worldwide turn to the IAEA for technical data, references, performance standards, and the hundreds of publications we issue annually in various nuclear fields. Our largest database, the International Nuclear Information System (INIS), maintains well over 2? million bibliographic records.
I should also mention research and training: The 140 coordinated research projects we have on-going at any one time; and, the 3,000-plus fellows and course participants who benefit from IAEA training programmes each year. This is a just a sampling of the work we do.
Second, we play a key role in fostering trans-national cooperation. As mentioned in the Director General′s opening statement, science and technology R&D was for decades considered a national policy issue. In particular, funding used to come primarily from the government, with little international collaboration. This was especially the case in nuclear science and technology, with its often closely guarded military aspects.
But, as you will hear during the next two days, recent trends have made science - both the funding and the actual execution of science - far more international. Few if any countries now seek to perform science in isolation. This is, firstly, because given the expense of the necessary infrastructure, duplication of facilities is seen - correctly - as inefficient. But it is also because innovation and creativity, by their nature, benefit from the broad exchange of ideas: cooperation that crosses borders.
Many international organizations have realized this as a fundamental shift in science and technology R&D, and have established programmes to assist their member states in the transition. Thus, we are particularly pleased that we will hear at this meeting experience from leading international organizations working in science and technology. In particular, there will be presentations given by: the European Commission; the World Bank; the World Intellectual Property Organization; and the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).
In the past a key IAEA role has been to provide technical support and training to nuclear research and development institutes (RDIs). But this role is shifting and expanding. If I were to summarize the IAEA role in an image, I would say that the Agency has long been a bridge that brings the benefits of nuclear technology to society in member countries. With this meeting, we are working to strengthen another bridge - one between the nuclear sector and the mainstream of science and technology.
The initiative that led to this meeting began four years ago. It was focused specifically on Central and Eastern Europe - an attempt to help nuclear RDIs optimize their potential and react positively to on-going changes. At that time, there was no data that mapped the status of Central and Eastern European nuclear research institutes. So, we started with that survey, the results of which you will hear about tomorrow.
But we wanted to do more. We sought to assist the managers and senior scientists of nuclear RDIs who wanted to improve their management practices. And we are pleased to report that there have been successes - institutes that have improved their business, communication and strategic planning skills, with concrete results: namely, taking advantage of funding opportunities at both national and international levels.
And what do we hope for this meeting to achieve? Our main objective is straightforward: to help bring the nuclear sector of science and technology more into the mainstream.
But, we also have some secondary objectives. We want you to come away with clear information on best practices on science and technology - as described by leading international organizations in the field. We want to present a few lessons learned in the nuclear sector that might apply to other sectors as well. We hope to highlight funding opportunities for research projects. And we hope to stimulate ongoing communication and networking among you and facilitate the establishment of partnerships.
The fact that high level representatives - including ministers and deputy ministers of science, as well as directors of research institutes - chose to come here, certainly suggests to me that this initiative touches on issues of importance to your countries.
For our part, I assure you that the IAEA is committed to playing its role. We want to help support you and your research institutes in this time of change. To help you turn the challenges of difficult changes into a future of promising opportunities.
I wish you a successful meeting.
Thank you.