The Agency's Laboratories Seibersdorf and Vienna
Mission
The mission of the Agency's laboratories is to contribute to the implementation of the Agency's programmes in food and agriculture, human health, physical and chemical sciences, water resource management, industry, environment, radiation protection and safeguards verification by performing the following functions:
- Provision of analytical services in areas where international acceptability of the results is of particular relevance such as analyses for Safeguard's verification, measurement of radionuclides and trace elements in environmental samples and food for impact assessments, measurement of stable isotopes for hydrological and climate studies.
- Provision of quality controlled and quality assured materials for radiochemical analysis, nuclear and other complementary non-nuclear analytical techniques including intercomparison studies and proficiency tests, and the preparation, certification and distribution of reference material.
- Provision of specialized scientific and technical services related to the Technical Cooperation and Regular Programmes of the Agency such as maintenance, repair and servicing of nuclear instrumentation; dosimetry services in the Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory; maintenance and provision of colonies of insects to be used for the sterile insect technique, and supporting research in plant breeding, soil science, animal health and agrochemicals.
- Filling gaps in research and development which are needed for the implementation of an Agency's programme and which cannot be carried out in a Member State such as development of disease resistant banana mutants or salt tolerant rice varieties, testing the potential use of SIT on the Malaria transmitting mosquito, development of new rapid radioanalytical methods and design of portable analysers used for measurement of environmental pollutants, and studying site specific environmental transfer behaviour of radionuclides and other pollutants in the terrestrial and aquatic environment.
- Training of scientists from developing countries in the use of nuclear techniques and technologies.
The activities of the Agency's Laboratories are planned and implemented jointly and in close coordination with programmes of the other relevant Divisions and Departments of IAEA, i.e. the Division of Human Health, the Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Food and Agriculture, the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, the Department of Safeguards and the Department of Technical Co-operation.