IAEA Reaches Goal to Finish Lab's Construction
IAEA says the new building will become the new home of three laboratories dealing with animal production and health, food safety, soil and water management, and crop nutrition.
The International Atomic Energy Agency will be able to complete construction of a second new laboratory facility near Vienna, Austria, in support of global health and development thanks to contributions totaling €4.7 million (about $5.5 million in U.S. dollars) from Germany, Japan, Norway, and the United States. Those four countries announced additional financial pledges after Director General Yukiya Amano last month told the IAEA Board of Governors the added money was urgently required to keep construction of the Flexible Modular Laboratory on schedule to be completed by the end of 2018. Japan announced a contribution of €1 million on Oct. 3, providing what was needed for construction of the building.
IAEA says the new building will become the new home of three laboratories dealing with animal production and health, food safety, soil and water management, and crop nutrition that support the joint division of the IAEA and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It is part of a wider project called ReNuAL and the follow-up ReNuAL+ to renovate and modernize all of IAEA's eight laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria, that assist countries in using nuclear science and technology to achieve their development goals. IAEA already has opened another building, the Insect Pest Control Laboratory, as part of the renovation initiative.
"The modernization of the nuclear applications laboratories is one of the most important projects ever undertaken by the Agency," IAEA Director Amano said. "The benefits will be felt by Member States for decades to come, and I thank all donors who contributed to this important effort."