Representatives from 181 member states gathered in Vienna to review issues related to nuclear energy, nuclear safety and security, and the Agency's activities.
The 70th regular session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began today on Monday Sept. 14 and will run through Sep. 18.
This meeting is considered the Agency's most important policy-making forum, where representatives of member states will discuss programs, the budget, and issues related to nuclear activities.
At the opening ceremony, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi announced the start of the 70th session and stated that Timor-Leste [East Timor] had been welcomed as the Agency's 182nd member.
Leaders, scientists and national representatives have gathered in Vienna for the IAEA conference on Monday, under a broad agenda covering the Agency’s annual report, advancing the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology, technical cooperation, safeguards implementation, and illegal attacks on nuclear facilities.
Spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi is set to deliver a speech at the conference. Austria, under pressure from the United States, blocked Iran's nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, from addressing the gathering.
Iran had submitted a formal request to the IAEA Secretariat to include, in its agenda, the topic entitled "prohibiting all forms of attacks and threats of attack against nuclear sites and facilities that are under Agency safeguards and dedicated to peaceful purposes."
In an explanatory memorandum, Tehran stated that an attack or threat against safeguards nuclear facilities poses serious risks to nuclear safety and security, undermines the credibility of the Agency’s safeguards system, and disrupts the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Without condemning the acts of aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime against Iran—or the attacks on Iran's nuclear program—Grossi stated that following renewed attacks on Iran in late February, the Agency was compelled to withdraw its inspectors from the country.
According to him, apart from a single inspection of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in June, the Agency has not conducted any other on-site verification activities in Iran over the past six months.
The lack of Agency's information regarding these nuclear materials, and the inability to access the facilities to verify them, constitute a serious issue from the perspective of nuclear proliferation that must be addressed with the utmost urgency, he opined.
MNA