(UTV|COLOMBO) – International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano will arrive in Sri Lanka today (14) for a one-day official visit, on an invitation extended by the government.
During his stay in Sri Lanka, Amano will visit the National Centre for Non-Destructive Testing (NCNDT) and the Sri Lanka Gamma Centre of the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Board which are two scientific centres established with collaboration of the IAEA. He will also visit the Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Regulatory Council.
The IAEA is an independent intergovernmental science and technology–based organisation established in 1957 in the United Nations family, that serves as the global focal point for nuclear cooperation and assists its member states in the context of social and economic goals.
Sri Lanka receives technical assistance through the IAEA Technical Cooperation programme in order to develop nuclear science and technology in the country.
The Technical Cooperation (TC) programme is the IAEA’s major mechanism for transferring nuclear technology to member states. This programme builds capacities to support the peaceful application of nuclear science and technology, helping member states to address key development priorities in areas such as human health and nutrition, food and agriculture, water resource management and the environment, industrial applications, etc.
Sri Lanka utilises peaceful applications of nuclear technology only in non-power areas and the country was able to obtain considerable amount of technical assistance from the IAEA in the past past.
Establishment of several nationally important scientific institutes such as Sri Lanka Gamma Centre, National Centre for Non-Destructive Testing, Nuclear Medicine Unit at University of Peradeniya, etc. and provision of many training opportunities for Sri Lankan scientists, medical doctors, engineers, medical physicists, etc., who are involved in the nuclear field were done through the assistance received from the IAEA.
Unique equipment and instruments used in nuclear field which cannot be purchased in the local market were provided to various institutes in Sri Lanka through the IAEA technical cooperation porgramme.
Sri Lanka also expects to obtain such technical assistance from the IAEA in future too in order to launch planned programmes which are to be implemented utilising nuclear technology in the country.
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