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STORY: UNGA79 / IAEA GROSSI INTERVIEW
TRT: 3:33
SOURCE: UN NEWS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 24 AND 25 SEPTEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY
24 SEPTEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY
1.Various shots, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
25 SEPTEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Med shot, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi at the interview
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“There needs to be a return to nuclear diplomacy. And so I congratulate the government for this step. Now we have to fill it with substance.”
4. Med shot, Grossi at the interview
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“There has been an agreement in the past, the famous JCPOA, which is nominally still somewhere there, but we know that the country has moved forward in a very significant way technology wise and in terms of production of nuclear material. So we need to have either an adjusted and updated version of that previous agreement or something different.”
6. Med shot, Grossi at the interview
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“We should not forget that these negotiations have a political aspect, but without an adequate verification and monitoring, which is which is done by the IAEA, all these agreements are, you know, of relative value when it comes to production of nuclear material or certain activities where you can say, I will do this or will do that, but someone has to check whether this is happening. So it's a it's a complex thing. But we have, I think, an obligation to to have results and to not add not add to the already volatile situation in the Middle East, yet another situation of crisis as it would be in case there was a proliferation event in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We shouldn't have that and we have the elements to prevent it.”
8. Med shot, Grossi at the interview
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“So the problem these days is the militarization of nuclear facilities. And this is something that we need to prevent.”
10. Med shot, Grossi at the interview
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“ We have to garner, we have to benefit and we have to extend to others all the benefits of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. And of course, we have to be vigilant. We have to make sure that trends like trying to weaponize a nuclear power plant, which at the end of the day is an industrial facility, are not allowed.”
12. Med shot, Grossi at the interview
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
“There are statistics that prove that nuclear energy is perhaps the most safe energy technology, when you compare the mortality rate. How many people die or have died as a consequence of the industrial activity around whatever thermal plants, even wind and nuclear is incredibly low. So I think there's an issue, more of a narrative that has been around for a long time. But let me say that we take nuclear safety as a priority, and it's one of the missions of the IAEA to make sure that when a country has or is thinking, you are talking about Kazakhstan, where there's going to be a referendum on the possibility of the country having nuclear power plants, for us is indispensable, is a must that countries follow the internationally agreed safety standards.”
14. Med shot, Grossi at the interview
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi said that the Agency looks forward to working with the Iranian government, reiterating the need to return to nuclear diplomacy.
On the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Debate, Grossi spoke to reporters on Tuesday (24 Sep) about concerns over nuclear safety in Iran and Ukraine, as well as nuclear energy.
On Iran, the Director General stressed the necessity to go back to negotiating process and have an agreed framework to move forward.
He said, “There has been an agreement in the past, the famous JCPOA, which is nominally still somewhere there, but we know that the country has moved forward in a very significant way technology wise and in terms of production of nuclear material. So we need to have either an adjusted and updated version of that previous agreement or something different.”
Grossi also point out that these negotiations have a political aspect, but adequate verification and monitoring done by the IAEA, is necessary.
He said, “it is an obligation to have results and to not add to the already volatile situation in the Middle East, yet another situation of crisis as it would be in case there was a proliferation event in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We shouldn't have that, and we have the elements to prevent it.”
On the recent developments at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, the Director General emphasized the need to prevent the militarization of nuclear facilities.
“We have to garner, we have to benefit and we have to extend to others all the benefits of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. And of course, we have to be vigilant. We have to make sure that trends like trying to weaponize a nuclear power plant, which at the end of the day is an industrial facility, are not allowed,” Grossi added.
The Director General also reassured that the statistics on safe commercial use of nuclear energy are very telling.
He said, “There are statistics that prove that nuclear energy is perhaps the most safe energy technology, when you compare the mortality rate. How many people die or have died as a consequence of the industrial activity around whatever thermal plants, even wind and nuclear is incredibly low.”
Grossi continued, “I think there's an issue, more of a narrative that has been around for a long time.”
The Director General reiterated that IAEA takes nuclear safety as a priority, and it is one of the missions of the Agency to make sure that countries follow the internationally agreed safety standards.
