International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 60^th General Conference is accompanied by the POLSKA Safe and Innovative exhibition organized jointly by National Atomic Energy in Poland and Permanent Mission of the Republic of Poland to the Unite Nations Office in Vienna. The exhibition presents Poland as a country, in which ionizing radiation is safely utilized in numerous modern and innovative applications.

The exhibition was opened jointly by Andrzej Przybycin, NAE President, and Polish Ambassador Adam Bugajski. President Przybycin pointed out that Poland has been consequently supporting MAEA activities aimed to support peaceful utilization of atomic energy, for example promoting safe production of high-quality radiopharmaceuticals or industrial/business implementation of cutting-edge solutions employing radiation-based technologies.

Involvement of NCBJ (jointly with Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Central Radiation Protection Lab, Ministry of Energy, and the PGE EJ 1 company) made possible that Polish accent accompanying MAEA 60^th General Conference.

IAEA is an independent intergovernmental organization in the UN family. Excerpts from its official mission statement:

• serves as the global focal point for nuclear cooperation
• assists its Member States in planning and using nuclear science and technology for various peaceful purposes
• develops nuclear safety standards and promotes the achievement and maintenance of high levels of safety in applications of nuclear energy, as well as the protection of human health and the environment against ionizing radiation
• verifies through its inspection system that States comply with their commitments, under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and other non-proliferation agreements, to use nuclear material and facilities only for peaceful purposes.

The exhibition was an excellent opportunity to present NCBJ contribution to efforts aimed to achieve goals specified within the IAEA mission statement. MARIA is currently one of the four research reactors producing molybdenum for the entire Europe. POLATOM Radiopharmaceutical Centre, a part of NCBJ Świerk, has been developing production for nuclear medicine for many years. Recently, NCBJ Department of Complex Systems has been conducting various R&D works for medicine and nuclear power industry using the Świerk-installed supercomputer. The role of NCBJ in developing accelerators for science, industry, and medicine was pointed out.

Ernest Moniz, US Secretary of Energy, informed during the Conference that the last batch (61 kg) of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) spent as MARIA fuel was successfully shipped back to Russia. Total as much as 700 kg of HEU was shipped back within a many-year long mission accomplished jointly by DoE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Poland, Russian Federation, and IAEA. NNSA experts and IAEA inspectors were jointly monitoring the entire process. As of September 26, 2016 Poland is a HEU-free country. HEU was removed to limit the threat that nuclear weapons might proliferate.