International Atomic Energy Agency at Crossroads

7 October 2008

IAEA’s Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) has helped to ensure that cancer patients in developing countries have access to radiation treatment. He admitted that the need for cancer treatment is vast and the Agency is only scratching the surface, but for the individual cancer patients who benefit, the limited assistance provided can mean the difference between life and death. With more funding the Agency could do much more to help the vulnerable people. Elbaradei reviewed the status of nuclear power worldwide. There are now 439 nuclear power reactors operating in 30 countries and 36 plants are under construction. IAEA expects that the nuclear capacity may possibly double by 2030. However, total electricity generation from all sources could well double also, in which case, nuclear power’s share of total generation would hold steady around the current level of about 14 percent.
-By Dr K S Parthasarathy

International Atomic Energy Agency at Crossroads

By Dr K S Parthasarathy

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held its 52nd Annual General Conference at Vienna from September 29 to October 4, 2008. The delegates from India included Dr Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, Dr S. Banerjee, Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Shri S.K.Sharma, Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

In his opening remarks, Dr Mohamed Elbaradei, the Director General , IAEA, expressed satisfaction over the work done by his colleagues in the agency and rated it as “excellent”. But he wanted the participants at the conference to know that all is not well with the IAEA. The Agency is at crossroads.

In June this year, he told the Board of Governors that there is a disconnect between what the Member States, are asking the Agency to do, and the legal authority and resources available to it. “This will hamper the Agency’s effectiveness, sooner rather than later, if it is not addressed”, he warned.

He noted that the surge in global food prices has pushed millions of people deeper into poverty and hunger. “A new report from the World Bank last month showed that there are more poor people in the world than previously thought. Some 1.4 billion people in the developing world live on less than $1.25 per day. The number of poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa has nearly doubled since 1981 to around 380 million” he said.

In this context, the work done by the Joint Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the IAEA is very important. The work includes using nuclear techniques to make food crops more resistant to disease, to boost crop yields and to combat pests and animal diseases.

In Africa, the Joint Division has supported 24 countries to eradicate the rinderpest. deadly cattle disease. Its work in combating the fruit fly in Latin America has created a large area free of this pest, stretching from Chile into southern Peru and all the way north to Guatemala.

Elbaradei regretted that the FAO took steps towards ending its involvement in the project. He hoped that the FAO Conference may make a positive decision in November.

IAEA’s Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) has helped to ensure that cancer patients in developing countries have access to radiation treatment. He admitted that the need for cancer treatment is vast and the Agency is only scratching the surface, but for the individual cancer patients who benefit, the limited assistance provided can mean the difference between life and death. With more funding the Agency could do much more to help the vulnerable people.

Elbaradei reviewed the status of nuclear power worldwide. There are now 439 nuclear power reactors operating in 30 countries and 36 plants are under construction. IAEA expects that the nuclear capacity may possibly double by 2030.

However, total electricity generation from all sources could well double also, in which case, nuclear power’s share of total generation would hold steady around the current level of about 14 percent.

Nuclear power is attractive for both developing and developed countries. .In the last two years, some 50 Member States have expressed interest in considering the possible introduction of nuclear power and asked for Agency support. Twelve countries are actively preparing to introduce nuclear power.

Elbaradei pointed out that management of spent fuel and disposal of high level radioactive waste remain key challenges for the nuclear power industry. IAEA plays a key role in facilitating the flow of information in this area.
Decommissioning needs will grow. IAEA estimated that between 80 and 150 power reactors and 100 to 150 research reactors will be retired by 2030.

Elbaradei noted that the world of nuclear safeguards has changed considerably over the last few years. “Effective nuclear verification….. requires adequate legal authority, state-of-the-art technology, timely access to all relevant information, and sufficient human and financial resources”. He admitted that despite some progress, the Agency still have shortcomings in all four areas.

Some of Elbaradei’s statements are worrisome. “Years of zero growth budgets have left us with a failing infrastructure and a troubling dependence on voluntary support, which invariably has conditions attached. For example, no less than 90 percent of our nuclear security programme, which is aimed in part at stopping terrorists from obtaining nuclear material, depends on voluntary funding” ….. “Technical cooperation funds continue to lag well behind the pressing needs of developing countries”.

Elbaradei’s independent Commission of Eminent Persons led by former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, and comprising former heads of government, ministers, top scientists and diplomats, produced a report which is “compelling, thoughtful and profound”.

After summarizing the panel’s recommendations, Elbaradei stated thus: “As the Commission acknowledges, this is a bold agenda. It is now up to you to decide what kind of Agency you want.
If we carry on with business as usual, the Agency´s effectiveness and the value of the services we provide to you will gradually be eroded”.

“The sums proposed by the Commission to put things right are modest - a once-off injection of 80 million euros to refurbish our laboratories and emergency response capability, and a gradual doubling of the budget by 2020. Weighed against the costs of a nuclear accident - which can total untold billions of dollars, as in the case of Chernobyl - or of a terrorist attack involving nuclear materials, this is insignificant. Likewise, the potential benefit to developing countries from using nuclear applications is huge”, he argued.

Let us hope that the Member States will strengthen IAEA so that it can continue to serve humanity through its dedicated activities.

IAEA must continue as an independent intergovernmental, science and technology-based organization which serves as the global focal point for nuclear cooperation.
Original Source : PTI

Update on the effects of atomic radiation

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Friday, October 3, 2008, Chandigarh, India

Update on the effects of atomic radiation
K.S. Parthasarathy
The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) in its much awaited latest review published on August 5, 2008, concluded that radiation is not riskier than what was stated in earlier reports.
Regulatory agencies can breathe easy as they need not alter the dose limits they prescribed to radiation workers and public
The report (Volume I) consists of the main text and two of the five annexes: “Epidemiological studies of radiation and cancer” and “Epidemiological evaluation of cardiovascular disease and other non-cancer diseases following radiation exposure”. UNSCEAR may publish the remaining annexes before the end of 2008.
UNSCEAR’s assessment of the risk of radiation depended heavily on the study of A-bomb survivors. The new analysis using the radiation doses recently re-estimated by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, showed that the cancer risk factors may be lower.
The committee considered cancer incidence and mortality due to cancers in 20 organs and tissues among A-bomb survivors; these were eight more than those in the earlier study. Nearly half of the survivors are still alive. Those exposed in childhood are now reaching the age at which larger numbers of cancers would be expected to arise spontaneously. There is compelling need to continue the study of A-bomb survivors for their entire life span.
The UNSCEAR observed that the cancer risks obtained in new findings from the study of nuclear workers in 15 countries, studies of persons living near Techa river in the Russian Federation who were exposed due to radioactive discharges from Mayak plant and a study of persons exposed to fallout from the nuclear test site in Kazakhstan are generally more than those obtained from the study of A-bomb survivors. However, there are concerns about bias in these studies.
The committee found significant associations between radiation exposure and cardiovascular diseases and other non-cancer diseases. Such associations can occur at doses below those hitherto considered as thresholds for other effects.
Specialists consider that the harmful effects of irradiation originate in the irradiated cells. But there is evidence that non-irradiated cells may show effects such as “genomic instability” (cells surviving irradiation may produce daughter cells that over generations show changes though daughter cells themselves were not irradiated), “bystander effects” (the ability of exposed cells to convey damage to neighbouring cells not directly irradiated) and other effects.
The committee concluded that the available data provide some disease associations but not for causation. It recommended future research designing studies that emphasize reproducibility, low dose responses and causal associations with health effects.
High doses of radiation may suppress immunity mainly due to cell destruction. Low dose irradiation may suppress the immune system or stimulate it. The immune system may remove aberrant cells which have potential to form tumours. A-bomb survivors show perturbations to stable immune systems. In the final document, the Committee proposed methods to estimate risk from radon, a well established carcinogen, present in dwellings.
To determine radiation risk at typical doses to workers, we need low dose studies. But most low dose studies have inadequate statistical power.
The UNSCEAR completed the report in 2005. The Committee acknowledged that resource crunch was the cause for the delay in publishing the report which is now called UNSCEAR 2006. According to a UN specialist, financial restrictions and-sometimes benign neglect- has slowed down the Committee’s work.
UNSCEAR reports provide the scientific basis to arrive at dose limits (safe levels of radiation to radiation workers and members of the public).
Set up in 1956, the UNSCEAR published 17 documents. The first two reports UNSCEAR 1958 and 1962 paved the way for prohibition of atmospheric weapon testing in 1963.
India has been a member of the UNSCEAR from its very inception. Traditionally, the Chairman of UNSCEAR is from a non-nuclear weapons’ state.
V.R. Khanolkar, a pioneer in pathology from India was Vice-Chairman in years 1958-1959; A.Gopal Ayengar a geneticist and the first research scientist Homi Bhabha recruited into the Department of Atomic Energy was Vice-Chairman in 1964-1965 and Chairman in 1966-1967.
Let us hope that UNSCEAR will continue to function effectively in spite of various limitations.
The writer is former Secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board