Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The following countries align themselves with this statement: Türkiye^§, North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, Ukraine^*, the Republic of Moldova^*, Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, Georgia, Iceland⁺, Norway⁺, Armenia and San Marino.

The European Union would like to thank the Director General for his report entitled "Nuclear Technology Review 2023", as contained in document GOV/2023/3.

The Agency’s work on nuclear science, technology and applications underpins the inalienable right of all States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination, in accordance with Article IV of the NPT. The Agency’s activities assist Member States and foster international cooperation in further development of the application of radiation and nuclear technologies that significantly contributes to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world. Nuclear technologies can also be of great help to fight global warming, mitigate its consequences and monitor its impact. The EU remains committed to ensuring the responsible, safe and secure development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

The EU acknowledges the need to ensure energy security at affordable cost and respects the right of Member States to decide on their energy mix and choose the most appropriate technologies to collectively achieve the 2030 climate target. The EU notes the preparation by the Secretariat of the 2^nd International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power, to be held in October 2023 in Vienna.

When using nuclear technology, the firm compliance with international legal instruments, IAEA safety standards, security guidelines and safeguards requirements is essential. We strongly encourage all Member States to make use of the IAEA peer reviews and advisory services, and to publish the findings and to timely implement the recommended actions.

The EU strongly supports the Agency’s commitment to contribute to tackling climate change. In that respect, we support IAEA’s activities to enhance knowledge of mitigation strategies, including its participation in the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27). We welcome the IAEA’s planned contribution to COP28.

Chair,

We appreciate the IAEA’s work related to the applications of accelerators and research reactors in the medical field and cultural heritage characterisation, amongst others, which are examples of societal relevance and impact of nuclear technologies. We welcome advances made in the field of nuclear medicine. These technologies are indispensable in the fight against cancer and contribute significantly to all stages of cancer patients’ care.

The EU also welcomes the activities contributing to strengthening the preparedness and rapid response capabilities of Member States to mitigate food safety crises and improve food quality.

We equally welcome the IAEA’s work on innovative radiation technologies and isotopic tracing techniques to deal with plastic pollution. In particular, the EU appreciates the NUclear TEChnology for Controlling Plastic Pollution (NUTEC Plastics) initiative.

Chair,

We attach importance to the Agency-wide platform on SMRs and their Applications and support the Secretariat in its effort to ensure coordination between the platform and the Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI). We renew our call to the Department of Nuclear Energy to provide more information to Member States on the platform activities as well as on the NHSI.

As nuclear power plants and research reactors worldwide are increasingly operating for longer timeframes, timely and adequate implementation of measures related to ageing management as well as reasonably practicable safety improvements, are of growing importance. We encourage the Agency’s efforts in this field and look forward to continuing discussions on these issues including within the framework of the Convention on Nuclear Safety. The EU appreciates the support provided by the Agency on long-term operation, ageing and obsolescence management and encourages the IAEA efforts in that field.

Important decommissioning projects are underway in the EU. The efforts of the Agency to deepen the understanding of all aspects of decommissioning programmes are extremely valuable. Projects aiming at the deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste are also progressing in several EU Member States. We look forward to continuing discussions on these issues during the International Conference on Nuclear Decommissioning in May 2023 and the International Conference on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Decommissioning, Environmental Protection and Remediation in November 2023.

Looking to the future, we continue our involvement in fusion research, in particular through our support to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and Demonstration Fusion Power Plant (DEMO) projects, and we welcome the organisation of the 29^th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference in London in October 2023.

With these comments, we support the recommended Board action set forth in GOV/2023/3.

Thank you, Chair.

§ Candidate Country

* Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, as well as potential Candidate Country Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

+ Iceland and Norway are members of the EFTA and of the European Economic Area.