It was with great pleasure and excitement that ANSTO welcomed an official visit from Mr Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The IAEA is an international organisation working to make nuclear science and technology available to all countries for peaceful purposes, especially in the developing world. Australia has been a very active member of the agency from the beginning.
Australia also contributes generously to the IAEA's technical cooperation programme and supports its non-proliferation efforts. It actively supports regional projects, especially involving radiation protection and health care.
Australia is participating and providing resources into a study on radioactivity in the seas and oceans of the Asia-Pacific region following the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan in 2012.
Director General Amano met with senior officials and ANSTO CEO, Dr Adi Paterson.
The visit included a tour of the state-of-the-art Open Pool Australian Lightwater (OPAL) research reactor. The 20 Megawatt reactor is widely regarded as one of the most versatile and reliable in the world, and is used to achieve a range of research, scientific, industrial and production goals.
The Director General also congratulated Australia on its recent announcement to build an export nuclear medicine (Molybdenum-99 or Mo-99) manufacturing facility at ANSTO.
The announcement was also made at the IAEA General Conference in Vienna by the Australian Permanent Representative to the IAEA, Ambassador David Stuart.
"I am grateful for Australia's effort to significantly increase production of this important isotope in order to offset cuts in production elsewhere," Mr Amano told a distinguished audience the previous day during a guest lecture at the Lowy Institute for International Policy.
It is especially critical given the recent worldwide shortages of this nuclear medicine which is used in 80 percent of nuclear medicine procedures worldwide.
Mo-99 is primarily used for diagnosis of heart disease and cancers. Applications include bone oncology, neurology, the kidney and gastrointestinal tract disorders.
In Australia each year 550,000 people receive a diagnosis using Mo-99. Current world demand is for 45 million doses a year. Australian nuclear medicine is produced using low enriched uranium which is part of the global push toward nuclear non-proliferation.
Australia was recently rated as the No 1 ranked country in a global report on nuclear security, and was the first country to use low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, that is, uranium which could not be used in a nuclear weapon, to produce nuclear medicine on a commercial scale.
The Director General thanked and encouraged continued support for member states of the IAEA to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.
“The IAEA is in the unique position of being able to make nuclear technology available to developing countries, helping them to grow more food, fight animal and plant pests and diseases and ensure the safety of food products,” he said.
The visit was the ideal occasion to thank the IAEA and Director General Amano personally for his support.