(As prepared for delivery)
Madam President, excellencies, distinguished delegates,
I would like to start by congratulating Her Excellency Ms. Annalena Baerbock on her assumption of the office of the President of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. It is an honour to address the General Assembly, to present the report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 2024, and to update you on the Agency’s work. I would like 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 resolution on the report of the Agency.
This General Assembly is happening at a crucial moment. Conflict, the erosion of global norms, and the gap between poor and rich are pulling at the fabric of our coexistence.
At times like these, International Organizations have a decision to make: Either continue along the path as if nothing has changed or recognise the challenges we face and choose paths that meet them.
At the IAEA we have our eyes wide open to today’s realities, and I will endeavour to describe the paths we are taking to support international peace and security.
We work at the intersection of nuclear non-proliferation, energy security and development. Our unique mandate ranges from reducing the risk of more countries having nuclear weapons to using nuclear science and technology to help support our 180 Member States in meeting their economic, environmental and social goals.
In essence, we help the world answer a fundamental question, that for more than 80 years has shaped its existence: How do we use the atom? Do we use it to overcome disease, hunger, pollution and energy insecurity, or do we use it as a weapon capable of ending life on earth as we know it?
The IAEA widens the access to nuclear science, technology and know-how. That includes, radiotherapy machines that diagnose cancer; nuclear power plants that provide low-carbon energy; and nuclear science applications that improve agriculture, track pollution, and provide the facts on which sound policy is made.
The IAEA supports nuclear safety and security so that nuclear science and technology benefit people and the environment and do not harm them, even at times of war.
As Director General I travel across the world fulfilling the IAEA’s mandate. At times of diplomatic disagreements, I have used my good offices to meet with leaders on opposing sides. The IAEA’s presence and its scientific know-how has brought clarity in difficult and unprecedented circumstances, from elucidating the situation at nuclear power plants at the front lines of the war in Ukraine to providing trusted analysis of water samples off the coast of Fukushima.
Responding to unprecedented challenges and opportunities has meant applying our mandate and all the assets of the IAEA in new ways amid tight budgets being made even tighter by inflation.
Madam President,
Let me start with our role as the world’s nuclear watchdog and then describe in more detail our work supporting social and economic development.
When the IAEA confirms the peaceful use of a State’s nuclear material, confidence over nuclear activities is established. History shows that when confidence disappears, international peace and security are at risk. This was the case in the DPRK, in Iraq, in Syria and most recently in Iran.
Last year, the Agency conducted more than 3 000 in-field verification activities in more than 1 300 facilities, with more than 240 000 significant quantities of nuclear material under its safeguards. As a result, we were able to draw safeguards conclusions for 175 States for which safeguards were applied. Where there have been unanswered questions, we have been firm, fair and steadfast in our efforts of engagement.
In June, after the attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, we had to withdraw our inspectors. In September in Cairo, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Dr Abbas Araghchi and I signed, under the auspices of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, an agreement that provides a clear understanding of the procedures for inspection, notifications, and implementation.
It is now time to implement the agreement. I am confident that a return of IAEA inspectors and the resumption of safeguards implementation in Iran would serve as a sign that agreements and understandings are possible. Nothing can replace dialogue in the pursuit of durable, lasting solutions to international challenges.
Both in international organizations and in diplomacy it is as important to grasp opportunities, as it is to rise to challenges. We must pursue every chance to bring States back into the fold of the international community. The IAEA has been doing this in Syria. I have met with President Ahmed Al-Sharaa as we look to make transparent and close a chapter of Syria’s past nuclear activities and enable the Syrian people to benefit from the peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology.
The global nuclear non-proliferation regime is under significant strain and we need to protect it. This is a message I shared with the Security Council a few months ago.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear weapons programme continues in contravention of several UN Security Council resolutions.
But even within some countries in good standing with their obligations under the NPT, there are now open discussions about whether or not to acquire nuclear weapons.
We do not want a world with dozens of nuclear-armed States. In times like these, your support of the non-proliferation regime, the NPT and the IAEA, is even more crucial to international peace and security.
In April next year, here at UN headquarters, the IAEA will again report to the NPT Review Conference on its work making operational this crucial treaty.
Madam President,
The war in Ukraine – the first to threaten a major nuclear power programme – continues to threaten nuclear safety and security. Frequent power outages caused by the fighting, and military activities near the NPPs, heighten the risk of a nuclear accident at Europe’s biggest Nuclear Power Plant.
Despite considerable challenges, including, more than once, direct attacks on our teams, the IAEA maintains an uninterrupted presence at all the plants, rotating staff in and out of the area. They are providing indispensable support, actively assisting operators in looking after the Seven Pillars of nuclear safety and security and the Five Principles for protecting the Zaporizhzhya NPP, which we established at the UN Security Council in 2023, while keeping the international community informed through regular updates.
In spite of the difficulties, I have kept an open dialogue with both sides, meeting with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation and President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to keep this terrible war from causing even more misery through a nuclear accident with radiological consequences. Meanwhile, we continue to deliver nuclear safety and security-related equipment, as well as medical equipment to Ukraine.
In another area of importance for nuclear safety, I have said that the IAEA will be there before, during and after the discharge into the sea of the water that once cooled the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station’s reactors damaged in the 2011 accident and has been treated and stored.
Under the IAEA, independent monitoring, sampling, and analysis of the water has confirmed tritium levels that are well below regulatory and operational limits. In response to regional concerns, we introduced additional trust-building measures that expanded international involvement in the process.
Madam President,
For decades, scientists have been raising the alarm over the impact of harmful greenhouse gases on our planet and its people. But for many years, many people – including policy makers – looked away from a very important, proven low-carbon energy sources that is safe and scalable.
But the tide has now turned, and we have seen a return to realism when it comes to nuclear energy. Facts and the need for energy security have firmly overtaken misplaced ideology and the world has agreed that global climate goals cannot be met without it. Countries with nuclear programmes are expanding them, and about 30 “newcomer countries” are building or planning their first nuclear power plants.
In 2024, 417 operating nuclear power reactors in 31 countries produced about 10% of the world’s electricity and a quarter of its low-carbon electricity. More than 60 new reactors were under construction and more planned.
Projections were again raised, with the IAEA expecting nuclear energy capacity to increase as much as two and a half times by 2050. The momentum continues, but there is work to do.
Three keys are required to unlock global nuclear capacity at that scale: One, newcomer countries require support; two, regulation must adapt; and three, financing needs to be made possible. In all three areas the IAEA made strong progress. The IAEA’s Milestones Approach remains the gold standard when it comes to developing a new nuclear programme, with our Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review missions supporting newcomer countries.
Many countries and industries are interested in using Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Developing countries see them as more affordable and appropriate ways to power their economic development. Technology companies want them to run the energy hungry data centres fuelling the AI revolution. But first SMRs will need to be deployed, and that will require regulators to update their approaches without compromising safety. The IAEA’s Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) advanced its work in bringing together regulators to harmonize their approaches to regulation, and industry to standardize their approach to design. We have organized workshops and SMR schools in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and our SMR platform is a growing resource covering all aspects of the technology.
We continued to support non-power applications of nuclear energy, from hydrogen production to industrial heat, and seawater desalination to marine propulsion.
Developing countries must not be left behind, and the IAEA has been working with many in support of their wishes to introduce nuclear energy. We have also been working closely with the World Bank and other international financial organizations to make sure they have financing options. I am pleased to note that the World Bank this year lifted its ban on supporting new nuclear energy projects, marking a milestone and important step in getting nuclear power to countries that want and need it.
Madam President,
The range of lifesaving and life-affirming uses of nuclear science and technology is extraordinary. A very important part of the IAEA’s mandate is to widen their global reach. Our work in this area is deeply rooted in our mission of “Atoms for Peace and Development”. It is why many of our Member States join the IAEA and it is foundational to creating lasting peace and security.
Cancer is an acute crisis holding back many developing countries. It is a crisis for the those suffering from the disease and for the overwhelmed health systems unable to offer adequate treatment, including through the use of radiotherapy.
I have been determined that the IAEA, in close collaboration with its Member States and other international and financial organizations, be the catalyst for doing more. We have been doing this through the Rays of Hope initiative launched three years ago. Through Rays of Hope, concrete actions have been taken in 40 countries: hospitals have been built, radiotherapy machines procured, physicists trained, and lives saved. We have more than doubled the number of Rays of Hope Anchor Centres that serve as regional hubs of excellence and training across the world.
But more still needs to be done – we will continue, energized by the success of the past years.
Nuclear applications have also been key in fighting communicable diseases. I know that not one of us wants to witness another pandemic. But it is clear that COVID is not the last major zoonotic virus that we will have to contend with. The imperative is to catch their outbreak early. It is why, in the middle of COVID-19, we launched Zoonotic Disease Integrated Action, or ZODIAC. It has improved the preparedness of countries around the world. The ZODIAC network now is truly global, with 129 national laboratories already involved. More and more potentially devastating pathogens are being characterized, and the iVetNet platform now tracks data from more than 2 400 institutions. We are nipping the threat of the next pandemic in the bud.
Madam President,
In a world of abundance, 700 million people should not have to go to bed hungry.
Atoms4Food is a joint initiative between the IAEA and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that provides tailor-made solutions to boost food security, support food safety and nutrition, and reduce agriculture’s strain on the environment. It is quite incredible what nuclear science and its applications can do.
Through Atoms4Food, we are supporting the use of irradiation to create hardier varieties of crops like bananas, cassava, rice and sorghum.
Through isotope hydrology, we are helping communities better manage their aquifers and water supplies.
Harmful insect populations are being shrunk through the Sterile Insect Technique, reducing pests like the fruit fly and New World Screwworm that decimate harvests and cause diseases in livestock.
In marine environments, we are fighting a different sort of pest. Microplastics are everywhere. They blight our common home and are present in the farthest reaches of our ocean. To create policies that tackle microplastic pollution, we must first better understand it. We need to know how it travels through our ecosystems and what impact it is having. The IAEA’s NUTEC Plastics initiative has two distinct approaches to dealing with plastic pollution. One supports 100 Member States wanting to use technology like infra-red spectroscopy to monitor and characterize microplastic marine pollution. The second supports more than 50 Member States looking to radiation-assisted technology to upcycle plastic waste into valuable products like construction material. Together, these approaches inform policies and create pathways towards a circular economy in which less plastic ends up in the ocean in the first place.
Madam President,
I do not deny that the world is going through serious political upheavals and that there are many problems in need of solutions.
But the future has not been dimed. We must grasp opportunities, point out what is right with this world, and empower nations and people to be part of shaping their future. Optimism takes courage and in times like these we must find ways to bring people with us in hope.
In the history of humankind, we have never before had the chance to know and do so much.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are giving each of us the chance to create the future we want.
Nuclear energy is back, and fusion energy is coming on in leaps and bounds. Private capital and public programmes are accelerating progress towards demonstration plants. The IAEA is playing its own part, through its World Fusion Energy Group, which is advancing work on regulatory frameworks, commercialization pathways and public engagement. We are bringing together the smartest people in AI with the smartest people in nuclear energy to discuss how nuclear power can fuel AI and how AI can improve the nuclear energy sector.
Madam President,
Every challenge is an opportunity. Peace is not passive – it is a dynamic, hopeful striving that requires all of us, women and men working together.
One the first things I did when I was elected Director General, was to announce the target of having equal numbers of men and women in the IAEA’s professional and higher jobs categories. It was a bold call at the time. Back then, women made up less than 30 percent of those roles, the IAEA was behind other members of the UN family, and the nuclear sector was far from embracing its full potential pool of talent. I am proud to be able to tell you that we reached parity ahead of our 2025 target.
Meanwhile, our dedicated programmes to widen the workforce of the global nuclear sector continue, including the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme and the Lise Meitner Programme.
The IAEA has the steadfast support of its Member States. This is a testament to their belief in our mandate and in the way we are fulfilling it.
We have shown that it is possible to make a big positive impact by using the resources entrusted to us wisely and efficiently.
We have been working harder and smarter amid a budget that has witnessed zero nominal growth over several years of strong price inflation.
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen,
The IAEA is indispensable, and it will continue to be in the years to come. Thank you for the support you have given me and the Agency. Together, we will continue to rise to global challenges, stay positive, grasp opportunities, and serve humanity actively and with a commitment that befits our noble cause. The IAEA truly and really delivers, for all.
Thank you.
