The United States and Japan today pledged a total of $75 million to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Peaceful Uses Initiative (PUI).
The U.S. will provide $50 million and Japan $25 million to IAEA’s program, which is meant help countries employ peaceful nuclear applications to meet their development objectives.
Since PUI began in 2010, more than $66 million in projects have been undertaken. Funding has helped Africa diagnose Ebola and other zoonotic diseases, improved sustainable water management in extremely arid regions, boosted developing nations’ cancer-fighting ability and underwritten a study of ocean acidification due to global warming.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said that people are often surprised by some of the PUI projects, citing Kenya using nuclear science in water-saving drip irrigation.
“The yield of tomatoes almost tripled as a result of this technique, while water use was reduced by half,” Amano said. In Tanzania, “the technique led to the yield of tea crops increasing four-fold compared to that of non-irrigated tea.”
The announcement about the pledges came during a high-level event on peaceful uses of nuclear technology held in New York.
