Iraq to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, minister says
Shafaq News/ Iraq is moving towards using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in the fields of health, industry, and agriculture, Higher Education and Scientific Research Minister Naeem al-Aboudi said on Monday.
Al-Aboudi said that the past period has seen developments in the plans devised for a peaceful nuclear program in Iraq, while the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed his "surprise" at the progress made in the field of nuclear medicine at a cancer treatment center in Baghdad.
"We are pleased with the visit of the IAEA Director General to Iraq," al-Aboudi said at a joint press conference with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
"There has been work during the past period to prepare several programs with the IAEA, and one of the basic and strategic issues that we are working for is the research nuclear reactor, as well as the nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes in the health, industrial, and agricultural sectors."
He pointed out that "Iraq in the sixties of the last century was ahead of the countries of the region in the field of peaceful nuclear energy, and now we are working with the efforts of the Iraqi government to regain our right and activate nuclear energy to serve the Iraqi people."
"We are now working to support the health sector, and we are currently at the Hope Hospital for Cancer Treatment. Providing health services is a strategic issue for Iraq. We ask the IAEA to support hospitals, whether with equipment or training of human resources."
Al-Aboudi pointed out that "before 2003, there was a frivolous policy that cost Iraq a lot, the most prominent of which was the complete destruction of the Iraqi nuclear program due to wars. We are now working according to the challenges, and we have the capabilities to rebuild the nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes."
"The IAEA knows that Iraq does not want nuclear energy for war purposes but for peaceful purposes, and this is Iraq's right."
"Arab countries, whether Egypt, the UAE, or Saudi Arabia, have turned to nuclear energy, and we are now serious about working on peaceful nuclear energy projects."
In response to a question from Shafaq News agency reporter, al-Aboudi said that "we are working to establish nuclear power plants in cooperation with the IAEA, and they are small modular reactors (SMR). These stations are for peaceful purposes, and we are now focusing on the health side and benefiting from nuclear energy.”
"Today we are in Baghdad, the heart of civilization, but the geographical location of the Hope Hospital does not allow it to provide treatment for all cancer patients," said IAEA chief. "I am happy to hear that there are two Iraqi provinces where cancer treatment centers have been established."
Grossi stressed that "we have identified the requirements and will work to provide all the support and funding that these centers need to succeed in their work."
