The man in charge of the International Atomic Energy Agency spent three days this week on the Texas A&M University campus before going to the United Nations.
It was the first extensive visit to a U.S. university by Director General Yukiya Amano.
His stops included the vet school’s diagnostic imaging and cancer treatment center, the School of Public Health, and an AgriLife Research Center where electron beam technologies are used to improve food safety.
A&M is home to a pair of institutes dealing with nuclear power.
The IAEA, according to A&M, is the worldwide center for cooperation in nuclear applications, energy, science, and technology.
Click below for comments from Dr. Mark Hussey and Director General Yukiya Amano.
102914 IAEA comments from Mark Hussey and Yukiya Amano
News release courtesy of Texas A&M University:
Making his first visit ever to a public university in the United States, Director General Yukiya Amano of the Vienna, Austria-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came to Texas A&M this week, where he met with a host of top officials and received on-site briefings at an array of nuclear and related facilities for both power and applications.
During his three-day visit that concluded Wednesday (Oct. 29), Amano, whose IAEA position affords him ambassadorial status, met with a host of high-level campus officials and toured several agricultural, engineering, public health, emergency first-responder and veterinary medical facilities that directly or indirectly relate to nuclear matters, either proactively or on a response basis.
Previously, the only U.S. institutions of higher learning that Ambassador Amano had visited were Harvard and Columbia University, and his Texas A&M visit was described as more extensive because of its variety of programs that relate to the work of IAEA.
Texas A&M is one of the few universities in the nation that has broad-based nuclear and related programs, officials noted, pointing out that it offers the region’s only academic degree programs in nuclear engineering and, complementing its teaching and research programs, operates a high-energy cyclotron and two nuclear reactors. All of those installations, in addition to be used for teaching and research purposes, provide services to industrial, medical and other entities that have specialized radiation and related needs — services that underscore Texas A&M’s role as a land-grant institution emphasizing its multiple missions of teaching, research and services to the state and nation.
In conjunction with his Texas A&M visit, Ambassador Amano formally designated Texas A&M’s National Center for Electron Beam Research as an IAEA Collaborating Centre for Electron Beam Technology for Food, Health & Environmental Applications. The center, located in the Texas A&M Research Park, is operated by Texas A&M AgriLife Research. Faculty there conduct experiments designed to ensure safe radiation of food products, vaccine development, municipal wastewater remediation and better plastics.
Responding to the prestigious designation, Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp thanked Ambassador Amano for visiting Texas A&M and for bestowing upon it the prestigious IAEA honor.
“It is fitting that the world’s authority on atomic energy has built partnerships with a place known for its ‘atomic spirit,’ global impact and world-renowned tradition of getting things done,” Sharp said, referring to the Texas A&M System’s flagship university and its associated research and extension agencies.
Ambassador Amano was formally welcomed to the campus by Interim University President Mark Hussey, who also joined the IAEA official in a session shortly before his departure.
In concluding his Texas A&M visit, Ambassador Amano said he found Texas A&M to be “an institution of very high quality” and “is contributing to the welfare of the world.”
He praised Texas A&M’s role in training young people in areas that advance the mission of IAEA, a function he said “is greatly needed in expanding safety.” He described Texas A&M as “one of the best places in the world to train people.”
He also cited the “advanced technology” that he found evident as the result of his briefings and tours of key installations. Referring to one of his stops on campus, he quipped: “You think big — apply big.”
Hussey, on behalf of the university community, joined in thanking the ambassador for honoring Texas A&M with his first visit to a public U. S. university and said he looked forward to working with IAEA even more closely in the future.
“I hope you found new ideas for collaboration for your agency, as well as those entities you engage with regularly in your international leadership role,” he told the IAEA head. “We stand ready to serve and look forward to building opportunities for extramural partnership where you and your member states can benefit from our efforts here.
“At Texas A&M University we strive for a unique balance — achieving our land-grant heritage of accessibility, applied capabilities and extension of the university to the people, while also pushing the limits of science and understanding as a global leader in research and a member of the elite Association of American Universities,” Hussey added.
IAES, an intergovernmental organization established in 1957, is the global center for cooperation in nuclear applications, energy, science and technology. Its stated mission is to work with its member states and partners to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Ambassador Amano has served as director general for IAEA since 2009 and has been associated with the agency since 2005. He was formerly Japan’s resident representative for the international organization. A graduate of the Tokyo University Faculty of Law, he joined the Japanese Foreign Ministry in 1972 and has had postings in Belgium, France, Laos, Switzerland and the United States.
While on campus, the ambassador visited and received briefings at the Nuclear Engineering Department and the Nuclear Power Institute and the Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute, which are operated by the Dwight Look College of Engineering and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station; the School of Public Health, part of the Texas A&M Health Science Center; the College of Veterinary Medicine Diagnostic Imaging & Cancer Treatment Center and Large Animal Hospital; and the Emergency Operations Training Center and “Disaster City” operated by the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service. The latter facility trains first responders for a variety of emergencies and is home base for Texas Taskforce 1, which has a long record of providing rescue and related services throughout Texas and elsewhere around the nation.
In addition to his campus briefings, Ambassador Amano presented an “Atoms for Peace” lecture at the Bush School of Government and Public Service. He met earlier with key officials at the Bush School, which, in addition to offering graduate-level degrees to future leaders in the public arena, is the source of numerous studies and related endeavors that have potential for helping mold public policies nationally and internationally.
Ambassador Amano’s Texas A&M visit was co-coordinated by the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Nuclear Power Institute.