CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 03/2020

LE MONDE IAEA
| INTERVIEW
In September, the Scientific Forum, entitled
“Nuclear Power and the Clean Energy Transition“
will take place at the Vienna International Centre.
What are your hopes and challenges regarding
these topics?
Energy, energy transition, clean energy
and climate change are all important subjects
on which we need to admit. We live in
a diverse world and there is no univocal
hence. Our host country Austria doesn‘t
like nuclear energy and this is perfectly
fine. There are many other countries which
are member states that not only like nuclear
energy but depend on it for their viability
as nations. We need to make sure that
nuclear energy when applied is used in a
safe way, avoiding accidents like the ones
we‘ve known in the past. And they may
happen because no human activity is
hundred percent safe. What we see is that
whatever energy you choose, it is obvious
that nuclear energy is a clean source of
energy – with close to zero emissions at a
time where we are struggling with this problem
of a highly carbonized economy.
Regarding the IAEA, we see that nuclear
energy is making a contribution at this
point. You can only imagine what may happen
if France would shut down all its nuclear
reactors or China or the United States.
We would immediately go to energies that
are high in carbon emissions. Therefore, it
is a very delicate balance that needs to be
struck and we are trying to be helpful. Next
year in November, I hope to be present at
the Glasgow Conference of the Parties of
the Climate Change. The last one was in
Madrid last year and it was a change because
the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
was never present in these places before as
IAEA’s Director General Rafael
Mariano Grossi during the
interview in his office at the
Vienna International Center
with CD’s Editor in Chief,
Daniela Pötzl.
there exists a certain image of nuclear energy.
My approach is different, we need to
talk to each other, we need to understand
each other and see how to best converge.
Gender equality is a priority area for the IAEA and
for you. Which projects will be established to
improve the numbers of women in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics
(STEM)?
The IAEA is a highly technical organisation.
From a historical viewpoint, for women
and young women it has been a challenge
to have the opportunity to excel and
to work in science, technology, engineering
and mathematics. Therefore, we have to
make it easier for them, it‘s a simple as that.
I said, I will reach gender parity in 2025,
which is a big risk for me to say, but I‘m determined
to do that. This can be achieved in
different ways. Of course, you can appoint
more women and that‘s very nice. Yet, you
cannot appoint people simply because of
their gender. You have to open doors and in
this area I see a lot of words and very few
deeds. This is why I thought that it was important
to come up with concrete ways to
widen the pool of women who would excel
in these areas. This is why I created the
IAEA Fellowship, honouring the personality
of Marie Sklodowska, later known as Marie
Curie. She was an incredible woman,
winning Nobel Prizes when women could
not even vote and were considered not as
intelligent as men. To me, she is a beacon of
courage and I named this fellowship after
her. My idea is to have already a batch of
hundred IAEA fellows this year, we are
working on that with the intention to offer
them more opportunities. If others do the
same in their respective fields, we perhaps
can see that in a few years we have a much
wider pool of women who will feel that they
have the same career opportunities as men,
which is what we need. With determination,
we will be able to challenge those timehonoured
structures.
You have been a diplomat with more than 35
years of experience and you had been Ambassador
of Argentina to Austria for 6 years, from
2013-2019. You are also a father of eight children
– how can parents sketch a positive future for our
children by diplomatically conveying them that it
is worth all efforts in changing our world – applying
and working on, for example, the 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) by the UN?
Especially at times like these, where
there are so stark and strong divisions in
the world and people are full of uncertainty,
we shouldn‘t fall into the trap of pessimism.
There are wonderful, incredible
things we can do together. The IAEA as an
international organisation which is so
close to science, sees the world with this
optimism because we see what is possible.
Given the necessary resources and the correct
science, you can change the life of
people and make it better and safer. The
SDGs are the consensus of many, many
hours of tireless efforts by experts, diplomats
and politicians all over the world.
And I think they capture very well the areas
where we can work together. A few
places like this institution, the IAEA, that I
have the honour to lead, combine the hard
world of politics and strategy with the caring
hand of science to save a life of somebody
suffering from cancer or malaria.
And this is life. It‘s a metaphor of life in
itself. Our determination is that we try to
do as good as we can.
PHOTOS: RALPH MANFREDA
Besondere Teilchenstrahlen zur Krebsbekämpfung
Fighting Cancer with Special Particle Beams
MedAustron im südlich von Wien gelegenen Wiener Neustadt ist eines von nur sechs Instituten weltweit, an denen Patient*innen
mit einer speziellen Forum von Bestrahlung geholfen werden kann. ◆ MedAustron in Wiener Neustadt, south of
Vienna, is one of only six institutes worldwide where patients can receive help with a special form of irradiation.
Bei MedAustron steht Krebspatient*innen eine
innovative Form der Strahlentherapie zur Verfügung:
die Ionentherapie. Die Methode erlaubt
es, das gesunde Gewebe rund um den Tumor
besser zu schonen. Geladene Teilchen werden
dabei beschleunigt und auf das Tumorgewebe
gelenkt. Bei diesen Teilchen handelt es sich
einerseits um Protonen und andererseits um
Kohlenstoffionen, die weltweit nur an sehr wenigen
Zentren zur Verfügung stehen.
Kohlenstoffionen verfügen über eine höhere
biologische Wirksamkeit als Protonen oder die
in der konventionellen Strahlentherapie eingesetzten
Photonen, wodurch mehr Zerstörungskraft
in den Tumorzellen entfaltet werden kann.
Dadurch eröffnet diese Form der Behandlung
neue Chancen bei bisher schwer oder gar nicht
behandelbaren Tumoren. Selbst bei komplizierten
Tumoren kann es so gelingen, sowohl die
körperlichen Funktionen als auch die Lebensqualität
der Patient*innen zu erhalten.
Im täglichen Ablauf verläuft eine Ionentherapie
ähnlich einer konventionellen Strahlentherapie.
Bei MedAustron erfolgt die Bestrahlung ambulant,
meist an fünf Tagen der Woche über einen
Zeitraum von mehreren Wochen.
Weitere Informationen: www.medaustron.at
und www.facebook.com/medaustron.
Therapieanfragen an patient@medaustron.at
bzw. unter 02622 / 26100 – 300.
◆
MedAustron offers cancer patients an innovative
form of radiation therapy: particle therapy. This
method allows for better protection of the healthy
tissue around the tumour. Charged particles are
accelerated and focused on the tumor tissue.
These particles are protons on the one hand and
carbon ions on the other hand, which are only
available at very few centers worldwide.
Carbon ions have a higher biological effectiveness
than protons or the photons used in conventional
radiation therapy, which means that more destructive
power can be developed in the tumour
cells. As a result, this form of treatment opens
up new opportunities for tumors that were previously
difficult or impossible to treat. Even with
complicated tumours, it is possible to maintain
both the physical functions and the quality of life
of the patient.
The daily routine of ion therapy is similar to that
of conventional radiation therapy. At MedAustron,
the radiation is administered on an outpatient
basis, usually five days a week over a period
of several weeks.
Further information: www.medaustron.at and
www.facebook.com/medaustron.
Therapy inquiries to patient@medaustron.at
or under 02622 / 26100 - 300.
Bild: Kästenbauer/Ettl
40 Cercle Diplomatique 3/2020
www.facebook.com/medaustron
www.medaustron.at