28 Dec 2012

IAEA / NUCLEAR TECHNIQUES

Over the past 50 years, the IAEA’s laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria have improved the lives of millions of people by using sophisticated scientific techniques in areas ranging from food preservation to cancer treatment. The lab is now looking to develop new applications in climate-smart agriculture and pest control. IAEA

Posted at: December 28, 2012 3:13 pm

Duration: 04:01

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: IAEA / NUCLEAR TECHNIQUES 
TRT: 4.01 
SOURCE: IAEA 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 28 NOVEMBER 2012, SEIBERSDORF / VIENNA, AUSTRIA/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – 1963, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA

1. Wide shot, building with IAEA logo 
2. Pan right, new lab building 
3. Pan left, new lab building with parking 
4. Med shot, chemical analysis scientist working 
5. Med shot, potentiograph 
6. Pan left, analytical precision balance machine 
7. Wide shot, scientist

FILE – 1966, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA

8. Wide shot, plant breeders inside greenhouses 
9. Tilt up, from plants to plant breeder taking notes 
10. Pan left, lab building

RECENT – 2012, SEIBERSDORF, AUSTRIA

11. Wide shot, entrance to the IAEA laboratories with the sign 
12. Med shot, cassava plantlets inside plant breeding lab, on a rotating incubator 
13. Med shot, plant breeder looks at plantlet 
14. Wide shot, green house with plant breeder 
15. Med shot, plant breeder looks at plant 
16. Med shot, pupae being placed into the irradiation 
17. Close up, entomologist's face 
18. Med shot, tilt down, irradiator in process 
19. Close up, larvae feeding trays 
20. Close up, larvae I artificial diet feed 
21. Wide shot, soil scientists in green house 
22. Zoom in, plant root 
23. Med shot, soil scientists put fractions of soil into vial 
24. Close up, soil goes into vial 
25. Med shot, technician prepares samples for mass spectrometer 
26. Close up, soil samples go into carousel 
27. Med shot, technician places carousel onto mass spectrometer 
28. Close up, carousels are fixed into position 
29. Med shot, technician reading results 
30. Close up, PC screen with readings

RECENT – VIENNA, AUSTRIA
 
31. Wide shot, IAEA Headquarters

28 NOVEMBER 2012, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

32. Wide shot,  IAEA meeting 
33. SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): 
"(The) laboratories are central to our efforts to fulfil one of our core responsibilities, which is to help Member States gain access to nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes. They help us to make an important contribution to tackling fundamental global problems such as food security, water and energy shortages, human and animal health and climate change. This side of the Agency's work does not get the same public attention as our activities in nuclear safeguards, nuclear safety and nuclear security. But it is just as important." 
34. Wide shot, audience 
35. SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): 
"(A) half a century is a long time. Like all of us, the laboratories have aged. Time has taken its toll on the buildings. Space is severely limited and the equipment is not well adapted to our present needs. That is why, at the General Conference in September, I announced plans to carry out a complete modernization of the laboratories within a few years. My proposal was supported in a resolution of the General Conference, which called upon us to establish state-of-the--art facilities and equipment at Seibersdorf. " 
36. Wide shot, audience 
37. SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): 
"Member States want us to do more in almost all areas of nuclear applications. This includes climate-smart agriculture, with priority on helping countries to adapt to climate change while improving food security. It includes improving preparedness for responding to nuclear emergencies and especially for dealing with radiological contamination in food and agriculture." 
38. Wide shot, podium at the end of the meeting

STORYLINE:

Some thirty kilometres from Vienna, the small town of Seibersdorf is probably best known for the laboratories operated there by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The premises in Seibersdorf were officially inaugurated in 1961 and the so-called "basement laboratory" from Vienna was resettled to its permanent home. It remains there today, where it has grown and evolved with the changing needs of Member States and the breakthroughs in the field of nuclear science and technology.

However, after half a century of operations, the Seibersdorf laboratories are beginning to feel their age. The laboratories are still a haven for pioneering work in food and agriculture, human health, environmental monitoring and in the use of nuclear analytical instruments. But space is getting cramped, and new demands stretch the available resources.

A complete modernization of the laboratories is now planned to establish state-of-the-art facilities and equipment at Seibersdorf to address the challenges of the future.

At a recent commemoration of the laboratory's 50th anniversary, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano noted that the agency's activities in these areas are sometimes overshadowed by its role as the world's nuclear watchdog.

SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): 
"(The) laboratories are central to our efforts to fulfil one of our core responsibilities, which is to help Member States gain access to nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes. They help us to make an important contribution to tackling fundamental global problems such as food security, water and energy shortages, human and animal health and climate change. This side of the Agency's work does not get the same public attention as our activities in nuclear safeguards, nuclear safety and nuclear security. But it is just as important."

There are currently a total of eight nuclear applications laboratories. Five are agriculture and biotechnology labs, which operate jointly with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). They specialise in insect pest control, soil and water management, animal health, plant breeding and genetics, and food and environmental protection.

The Dosimetry Laboratory works on quality assurance aspects of the use of radiation in medicine. The Nuclear Spectrometry and Applications Laboratory helps Member States to use nuclear techniques in environmental pollution monitoring and other areas. Finally, the Terrestrial Environment Laboratory helps countries to understand and protect the land.

Work at the labs has made a difference in controlling animal diseases in more than 30 countries in Africa and Asia, and contributed to the development of hardier and more nutritious crops such as barley that can grow in the High Andes of Peru. Scientists at the labs have helped communities identify the best sources of underground water and ensure that this scarce resource is used effectively. They have worked on safe ways to preserve food, and provided vital technical support for cancer treatment and other medical uses of nuclear technology.

In addition to scientific research, IAEA laboratories provide technical services to the IAEA's 158 Member States. The labs also regularly host fellows and scientific visitors, with more than 2,000 benefiting from this opportunity to learn in the past 50 years.

SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): 
"A half a century is a long time. Like all of us, the laboratories have aged. Time has taken its toll on the buildings. Space is severely limited and the equipment is not well adapted to our present needs. That is why, at the General Conference in September, I announced plans to carry out a complete modernization of the laboratories within a few years. My proposal was supported in a resolution of the General Conference, which called upon us to establish state-of-the--art facilities and equipment at Seibersdorf."

This, Amano said, would allow the IAEA to help countries use nuclear technology to deal with some of the big challenges facing humankind, such as adapting to climate change, eradicating diseases and feeding the world's people.

SOUNDBITE (English) Yukiya Amano, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): 
"Member States want us to do more in almost all areas of nuclear applications. This includes climate-smart agriculture, with priority on helping countries to adapt to climate change while improving food security. It includes improving preparedness for responding to nuclear emergencies and especially for dealing with radiological contamination in food and agriculture."

The Director General also said the IAEA would contribute more to controlling mosquitoes that transmit malaria by using techniques that, together with pest control programmes, have helped control other insects. Among other expansion plans is establishment of a new Cancer Training Centre.