Bilateral and multilateral negotiations held by HAEA at the 67th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency

International Atomic Energy Agency

On 25 September, the annual General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency began in Vienna, with the participation of a delegation from the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority, led by its President Ms Andrea Beatrix Kádár. In parallel to the General Conference, the President held bilateral and multilateral meetings with IAEA Director General Mr Rafael Mariano Grossi (who has been reappointed by the General Conference for a further four-year term starting in December 2023), the heads of the nuclear authorities of other Member States and representatives of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO).

The HAEA delegation held meetings with representatives of the nuclear authorities of Argentina, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Egypt, the Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Romania, Serbia, China and Turkey. The main topics of the bilateral meetings were the overview and assessment of recent events, ongoing and future cooperation opportunities as well as the issues related to small modular reactors, the development of the related regulatory oversight system and the legal framework.

The main focus of the discussions with the authorities of Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and Japan was to review the experience of lifetime extensions and to exchange experience on the regulatory supervision of the construction of new nuclear power plant units. In addition, key areas for future cooperation were identified with those authorities with which the HAEA has not previously developed closer relations.

The President of HAEA and her delegation also met with the Finnish and Polish authorities in the framework of the traditional quadrilateral meeting with the Czech, Slovak and Slovenian authorities to discuss current regulatory issues of common interest (e.g. regulatory activities related to the new nuclear power plant units under construction and research reactors) and paid particular attention to technical issues on the agenda of international organisations which may require a common position (e.g. emergency preparedness and response activities in the context of the situation in Ukraine).