OREANDA-NEWS. Various peaceful applications of nuclear technology were highlighted during IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano's visit to Latvia this week. During his two-day trip to Riga, Mr Amano met Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Kaspars Gerhards, visited the Nuclear Medicine Centre and gave a lecture to students at the Academic Centre of Natural Sciences of the University of Latvia.

"Nuclear technologies are used in many areas that affect our daily lives," Mr Amano told students,  citing examples such as checking the structural safety of aircraft, managing water resources and controlling mosquito populations.

Mr Amano and his hosts discussed the assistance the IAEA provides to Member States, including Latvia, in the peaceful applications of nuclear technology, from treating cancer, through increasing crop yields, to measuring air pollution and ocean acidification. The IAEA nuclear applications laboratories in Austria and its environment laboratories in Monaco, along with a network of laboratories around the world, play a crucial role in this assistance.  

Latvia receives support from five of the IAEA's laboratories. In the last ten years, more than 20 Latvian nationals have received IAEA training as fellows or scientific visitors in nuclear engineering and technology, nuclear and radiation safety and nuclear security.

Latvia joined the IAEA in 1997 but has been participating in technical cooperation activities since 1994. The IAEA assists the country in nuclear safety and security, radioactive waste management, and human health, in line with its national priorities.

The Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre in Riga is a member of the network of Analytical Laboratories for the Measurement of Environmental Radioactivity (ALMERA),  which was established by the IAEA to coordinate the activities of 149 laboratories around the world in case of an accidental or intentional radioactivity release.