Statement by Ambassador Mitsuru Kitano at the Board of Governors Meeting starting on 2 March 2015 Item 4 : Strengthening the Agency’s activities related to nuclear science, technology and applications: Nuclear Technology Review 2015

Japan would like to thank the Secretariat for preparing the “Nuclear Technology Review 2015” (GOV/2015/8), which provides a useful overview of the development and trend of nuclear technology. We would also like to thank DDG Malavasi and DDG Chudakov for giving us valuable presentations on this document.
 

Japan recognizes that nuclear science and technology has been playing a unique and important role in addressing a variety of global challenges, such as development and climate change. Japan attaches great importance to the Agency’s activities in this area, and acknowledges with satisfaction that tangible outcomes have been achieved through Director General’s initiatives to promote peaceful uses of nuclear technology in the areas of human health, including cancer control, nutrition, food and agriculture, water management and environmental protection.

These aspects of peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology are not well recognized yet, unfortunately. We believe the Secretariat, as well as the Member States, should exert more effort for raising awareness of this important aspect of nuclear science and technology, bearing in mind the NPT Review Conference in two months’ time, the post 2015 development agenda to be adopted in September at the United Nations General Assembly and a new climate framework to be agreed in December at COP21.
 
Symposium on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Science and Technology
 
With this recognition, our Permanent Mission, jointly with the Permanent Mission of Brazil, hosted the “Symposium on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Science and Technology” last week. At the symposium, a number of speakers from the Member States and the Secretariat shared various perspectives, ideas and experiences on peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology with more than 100 participants from 45 countries. The symposium focused on 5 themes, namely “Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Science and Technology in the context of NPT”, “Human Health and Nutrition”, “Food and Agriculture”, “Water and the Environment” and “Energy”.

 
I would like to thank H.E. Ambassador Laercio Antonio Vinhas and Permanent Mission of Brazil for co-hosting the symposium. We would also like to thank many Ambassadors, other diplomatic corps and senior staffs of the Secretariat, including 3 Deputy Director Generals, namely DDG Malavasi, DDG Chudakov and DDG Aning, for their significant contribution to the symposium as speakers and moderators.
 
 
From the discussions, we sensed the strong expectations and needs to the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology and renewed our recognition about the huge potential of nuclear science and technology. At the same time, we were reminded of the importance of nuclear safety and radiation protection as an essential prerequisite for the sustainable development of nuclear science and technology.

 
IAEA Peaceful Uses Initiative

Japan values the role of the Agency in enhancing access to nuclear science and technology for the Member States, particularly its activities in the areas of human resource development and capacity building, including through its Technical Cooperation programme. In this regard, Japan has been contributing to the IAEA Peaceful Uses Initiative (PUI), on top of its share of the Technical Cooperation Fund, to further enhance access to peaceful uses of nuclear technology. Through the PUI, Japan contributed more than 12 million US dollars. Japan will continue its support for the PUI.
 

Renovation of the Nuclear Applications Laboratories in Seibersdorf
 
Japan recognizes that the Nuclear Applications Laboratories in Seibersdorf has been contributing significantly to realizing the wider application of, as well as to enhancing access to nuclear science and technology. We strongly support the ReNuAL project in this regard, and we hope that the project will be implemented expeditiously and smoothly.

Currently, we recognise that the available resources are not sufficient enough yet and we are at a critical juncture in implementing this important project on schedule. I would like to urge the Secretariat to redouble its efforts to mobilize resources. I would like to stress to the Member States as well that it is very important for the Member States to take the lead by financial or in-kind contributions.
 
Japan, for its part, has so far made an extra-budgetary contribution of half a million Euro for the basic design of the ReNuAL project, and is seriously considering additional contribution, taking into account the importance of the project. We are particularly interested in the new facility module on food and environmental protection to be newly built under the project. While paying due attention to the progress of detailed design work handled by the Secretariat, and while also consulting with other interested Member States, Japan will accelerate our consideration and propose our concrete contribution to the ReNuAL in the near future.
 

With these comments, Japan takes note of the Agency’s Nuclear Technology Review 2015 contained in GOV/2015/08.