Kolkata: "Nuclear science should be used for peaceful applications related to energy production — not for its destruction." The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which plays a watchdog role in nuclear safeguards and verification also endeavours to serve basic human needs in the fields of health and agriculture given "the peaceful power of the mighty atom," Prof. Werner Burkart, Deputy Director General, IAEA, said here on Monday.

Prof. Burkart was speaking at the inaugural session of the five-day international conference on "Application of radiotracers in chemical, environmental and biological sciences" organised by the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in cooperation with the IAEA. Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, was the chief guest.

India stood to gain both in the health and agricultural sectors once research now underway on the use of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) — "insect birth control by nuclear means" — could be applied, Prof. Burkart said. "SIT could be used to combat vector-borne diseases like malaria. There is also a need for the country to breed more productive plants by irradiation processes which nuclear science could provide for."

SIT was also being tried out by the IAEA in partnership with African countries where nuclear applications were under way to fight diseases such as tsetse. "India could be one of the first fields to put to test research in the use of SIT to combat malaria," he said.

On the potential of nuclear application in food and agricultural production, he spoke of the emphasis being laid by the IAEA on "crop diversity, screening techniques for plant diseases and breeding more productive plants by irradiation processes." "By using radiation to produce mutations Asia had benefited by improving the quality of its cotton, rice and pear yields," he said, adding that nuclear science was also providing the tools for understanding climate change. Isotope hydrology was being used for better management of water resources.

Dwelling on the IAEA's "Programme for action for cancer therapy (PACT)," he said radiation had a fundamental role in cancer treatment even though the capacity was not available in many countries. "PACT responds to the need for developing countries to expand radiation therapy treatment programmes to fight cancer."

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