Member States meeting at the IAEA General Conference have adopted resolutions on key areas of the Agency´s work. More than 100 IAEA Member States attended the week-long Conference, which concluded 22 September 2006 in Vienna.
Adopted resolutions include:
- Nuclear Security - Measures to Protect Against Nuclear Terrorism. The resolution welcomes Agency efforts and progress in key areas. It calls upon all Member States to provide political, financial, and technical support to improve nuclear and radiological security and prevent nuclear and radiological terrorism, and to the provide the Agency´s Nuclear Security Fund the support it needs. The resolution emphasizes the importance of physical protection and other measures against illicit trafficking and national control systems for ensuring protection against nuclear terrorism and other malicious acts, including the use of radioactive material in a radiological dispersion device.
- Strengthening the Effectiveness and Improving the Efficiency of the Safeguards System and Application of the Model Additional Protocol. Expressing the conviction that IAEA safeguards contribute to strengthening the collective security of States, the 5-page resolution supports the Agency´s verification system and efforts to strengthen it. Among other points, the resolution stresses the need for effective safeguards in order to prevent the use of nuclear material for prohibited purposes in contravention of safeguards agreements, and underlines the vital importance of effective safeguards for facilitating cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It further stresses the importance of the safeguards systems, including comprehensive safeguards agreements and additional protocols, and of pursuing the implementation of strengthening measures as far as available resources permit. It affirms that measures to strengthen the effectiveness and improve the efficiency of the safeguards system with a view to detecting undeclared nuclear material and activities must be implemented rapidly and universally by all concerned States and other Parties in compliance with their respective international commitments.
- Strengthening of the Agency´s Technical Cooperation Activities. The resolution stresses the importance of nuclear knowledge sharing and the transfer of nuclear technology to developing countries for further enhancing their scientific and technological capabilities and thereby contributing to their socio-economic development. It further stresses that the Agency´s resources for technical cooperation activities should be assured, predictable, and sufficient to meet objectives. It requests the IAEA Director General to support efforts to strengthen technical cooperation activities through partnerships and other cooperative channels and to help interested Member States in a number of specific areas, including food and agriculture, human health, industry, water resource management, environment, knowledge management, biotechnology, and nuclear energy planning for interested States.
- Strengthening the Agency´s Activities Related to Nuclear Science, Technology and Applications. The cluster resolution addresses nuclear applications for electrical power production and for non-power purposes. Among non-power applications, the resolution addresses the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy; the development of the sterile insect technique for the control or eradication of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes; and the African Union´s Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomosis Eradication Campaign. Concerning nuclear power applications, the resolution addresses Agency activities in the development of innovative nuclear technology; approaches to supporting nuclear power infrastructure development; and nuclear knowledge.
- Measures to Strengthen International Cooperation in Nuclear, Radiation and Transport Safety and Waste Management. The cluster resolution urges the IAEA to continue strengthening its efforts in the subject areas, focusing particularly on mandatory activities and on technical areas and regions where the need for improvement is the greatest. Areas covered in the resolution include the Agency´s safety standards programme; nuclear installation safety; radiation safety; the safety of radioactive waste management; the safe decommissioning of nuclear facilities and other facilities using radioactive materials; education and training in nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety; nuclear and radiological incident and emergency preparedness and response; and the safety and security of radioactive sources.
- Implementation of the Safeguards Agreement Between the Agency and the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Pursuant to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The resolution "calls upon the DPRK to cooperate promptly with the Agency in the full and effective implementation of IAEA safeguards and to resolve any outstanding issues that may have arisen due to the long absence of safeguards... and to comply fully with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons." The resolution stresses the General Conference´s desire for a "peaceful resolution through dialogue to the DPRK nuclear issue, leading to a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula, with a view to maintaining peace and security in the region."
- Application of IAEA Safeguards in the Middle East. The resolution requests the IAEA Director General to continue consultations with the States of the Middle East to facilitate the early application of full-scope safeguards to all nuclear activities in the region as relevant to the preparation of model agreements, as a necessary step towards the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free-zone in the region.
- Applications for Membership of the Agency. Resolutions approved the applications for IAEA membership of the Republics of Malawi, Montenegro, Mozambique and Palau. Membership takes effect once the required legal instruments are deposited with the Agency, which in the case of Mozambique has been done. The IAEA now officially has 141 Member States.
The full texts of adopted resolutions will be posted on the IAEA.org website as they become available.