IAEA General Conference deals with nuclear safety, environmental issues; approves $162 million budget for 1990.

• Position: International Atomic Energy Agency

Nuclear safety and other environment-related issues were among the major concerns of the 1989 General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), held in Vienna from 25 to 29 September. A budget of $162.8 million, representing zero growth in real terms, was adopted for 1990, and a target of $45.5 million for voluntary contributions to support technical assistance and cooperation programmes approved.

Agency Director General Hans Blix, a national of Sweden, was reappointed for a third four-year term as of 1 December 1989.

He told the Conference that world electricity demand would double over the next 15 to 20 years. Global energy supply would continue, as at present,to be a mix, he predicted. The question was the future composition of the mix.

Intensified concern regarding the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels was now affecting the psychological climate for nuclear energy, Mr. Blix noted. Generating electric power resulted in 25 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions-a fundamental element in the creation of the "greenhouse effect".

What will be the 'mix'?

Experts attending a special two-day scientific meeting held during the Conference considered the contribution of nuclear power to the future mix of world energy sources. They acknowledged that political, social, economic and institutional factors might outweigh technological considerations in determining that mix. Public perceptions and enhanced safety features would be significant in evaluating merits of both new construction and the continuing operation of existing power plants, today numbering over 400, they concluded.

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, in a message to the Conference, said IAEA played a vital role in providing technical assistance to developing countries. More than 1,000 ongoing technical co-operation projects in food production, medicine, mining and hydrology were part of the Agency's indispensable contribution to creating sustainable...