Press Releases

1. Six governors and other officials (Egypt, Latvia, Republic of South Africa, Malaysia, Philippines and Switzerland) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited Japan from February 21 to 27 at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2. This invitation is one of the ongoing activities aimed at encouraging a further deepening of the international community’s understanding on the most advanced nuclear energy activities in Japan, and in particular Japan’s efforts to utilize peaceful uses of nuclear energy, chiefly through the medical applications of radiation, and its efforts following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident.

3. The IAEA positions promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy as one of its major goals, and has been carrying out technical cooperation activities for developing countries in a variety of fields. Among them, the human health and medical applications of radiation is a field where developing countries’ interests have been rapidly increasing. The delegation exchanged views with nuclear energy experts, and also visited the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)’s Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute, as well as Gunma University’s and Hidaka Hospital’s heavy ion radiotherapy facilities in connection to cancer treatments. In addition, the delegation visited TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and observed the sites of the reactor decommissioning, contaminated water countermeasures and other efforts that Japan has been undertaking thus far.