Close up of the IAEA memo.
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DISCLAIMER - Of course this was an April Fools joke.But it
raises a serious issue that the UN uses tax payers money topromote
dirty,dangerous nuclear power.
Read more about
our campaign against nuclear power
.
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In a
short internal memo dated today and intended for circulation
tostaff at the Agency, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei
outlineshis intention to reframe the agency's mission
statement:
"Whilst I alone cannot change the mandate of the Agency, I am
conveninga panel of experts under my direction to prepare a report
for the nextGeneral Conference in September. Their remit will be to
find the bestapproach for the agency to become a world leader and
advocate ofrenewable energy sources"
Our nuclear expert and regular IAEA watcher, William Hill
stated:
"At first we didn't believe it, we thought it was a joke. Now
that it hassunk in we welcome the acknowledgement of the
fundamental hypocrisy ofthe IAEA's dual role and the responsible
recognition that it wasunsustainable. We are disappointed that
immediate change has not beenmade and further dismayed at the
likelihood that the consultativeperiod will be dominated by
industry interests. We will, however,almost certainly open a bottle
of champagne today to mark this historicdevelopment."
We have long been critics of the IAEA's conflicting dual role.
Onthe one hand, it is in charge of preventing the spread of nuclear
weaponsand leading member states towards nuclear disarmament. But
it alsopromotes civil nuclear power programs that provide the means
to buildnuclear weapons.
Only yesterday we received a call from an agency insider
claiming hehad proof of dramatic developments at the IAEA.
Identifying himselfonly as Art Sixnofour he set up an elaborate
hand-over of the leakeddocument in a Vienna park.
While we have not been in possession of the document long enough
tofully analyse the implications and confirm the details of the
proposedplan, we believe its explosive contents justified rapid
release of thedocument.
It is too soon to assume the Agency's mission will change but we
canonly applaud ElBaradei's courage in seeking to remove the
foolhardy contradictionat the heart of the current IAEA mission
statement. The world will be asafer place if his proposal is
adopted.
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This might have been a joke for April1st, but it makes a serious point. By promoting the dangerous myth ofAtoms for Peace and nuclear power, the IAEA is responsible forspreading the very things it seeks to control: nuclear weaponstechnology and materials.
Greenpeace believes that the only wayto stop the spread of nuclear weapons is for the nuclear weapons statesto disarm and for the world to reject the technologies and materialsused to produce them, by changing to promoting peaceful renewableenergy sources the IAEA would be acting to combat the two most pressingthreats facing the world today, climate change and nuclearproliferation.