U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna
Vienna, Austria
For Immediate Release August 13, 2021
United States announces $8 million for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the first half of 2021 for health, agriculture, and infrastructure projects worldwide
This year, the United States has allocated just under $8 million in extrabudgetary funding to the IAEA’s Peaceful Uses Initiative (PUI) to help countries around the world improve health, agricultural productivity, and infrastructure.
The PUI projects funded thus far in 2021 help countries achieve their respective economic
and social development goals, and include:
GLOBAL
- Cancer Treatment & Prevention – The United States committed $4.5 million to support the IAEA’s activities that will help Member States diagnose and treat cancer through training and education; procurement; and promoting innovative technologies. This commitment includes the procurement of medical linear accelerators, or LINAC machines. LINACs use electricity, rather than a radioactive source, to generate high
energy beams of X-rays or electrons to treat cancer. - Pediatric Cancer – The United States contributed $500,000 to train cancer specialists and technicians from around the world, improving the quality of care for pediatric cancer patients. These efforts to build a more comprehensive cancer control system in IAEA Member States will make pediatric cancer treatment more accessible, affordable, and effective.
AFRICA
- Algeria will benefit from a nearly $140,000 project to upgrade its nuclear analysis laboratories and implement its National Cancer Plan in nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, medical imaging, and medical physics.
- Sierra Leone will host a $144,000 IAEA project to strengthen its capacities for the diagnosis and control of diseases which can be transmitted from animals to humans, improving both public health services and livestock production. The funding will also be used to apply isotopic techniques to investigate ground water pollution.
ASIA/PACIFIC
- Fiji will receive a food safety laboratory to analyze pesticide residues and benefit from the IAEA’s sterile-insect technique (SIT) project to suppress fruit fly populations, for a total of $245,000 in funding. Fruit flies are a worldwide concern impacting fruit and vegetable production, with negative economic ramifications for local economies. This funding will suppress the population of fruit flies, limit economic harm, and help Fiji meet its goals related to the provision of local fresh foods.
- Laos will benefit from over $558,000 in U.S. funding for four IAEA projects that will reduce the incidence and impact of diseases in both animals and people, address childhood malnutrition, and enhance the quality of available radiation therapy services.
- Nepal will receive nearly $216,000 in U.S. support to the IAEA for projects to enhance the productivity of crops and fruit using nuclear and molecular techniques and strengthen radiation safety in fields that employ nuclear technologies, such as health care.
- Sri Lanka will benefit from $190,000 in U.S. funding to the IAEA to control stomach worm infection in goats, support the genetic improvement of tea, and strengthen the regulatory infrastructure for the control of radiation sources.
LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN
- Belize will benefit from nearly $110,000 in U.S. funding for an IAEA project to strengthen national laboratory capacity for aquatic environmental studies.
- Dominica is benefitting from a $180,000 project, funded by the United States, to enhance capacity to monitor agrochemical residues in foods.
- Grenada will build its national capacity through the applications of nuclear technology thanks to approximately $36,000 in U.S. funding.
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will receive just over $600,000 in assistance through an IAEA project to provide the country with a computer tomography scanner, replacing a scanner damaged in the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano. This work is part of the IAEA’s larger worldwide efforts to build, strengthen, and restore the capacities of IAEA Member States in cases of outbreaks, emergencies, and disasters.
- Trinidad and Tobago will be able to use isotope hydrology to determine groundwater recharge for its aquifer systems thanks to $73,000 in U.S. funding for the IAEA to implement its project in the country.
In 2010, the United States helped the IAEA establish the Peaceful Uses Initiative to mobilize extrabudgetary contributions to support unfunded projects of the IAEA in the areas of peaceful application of nuclear technology. The PUI provides the IAEA with funding to support countries’ requests for assistance in applying nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes such as health care, agriculture, and environmental applications.
Since 2010, the United States has contributed more than $120 million to activities to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in developing countries around the world.
U.S. support to the PUI demonstrates of our commitment to fulfil our obligations under Article IV of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT. Article IV of the NPT recognizes the inalienable right of NPT States Parties to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, in conformity with their non-proliferation obligations under the Treaty, and provides for international cooperation to enable States to enjoy the benefits of the peaceful uses of the atom.
There is no more committed global partner in the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology than the United States. The assistance provided through these projects demonstrates that the United States is dedicated to improving access to the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.
More information on the IAEA’s PUI project is available here:
https://www.iaea.org/services/key-programmes/peaceful-uses-initiative
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