Monaco’s Laboratories Leverage Nuclear Science to Improve the Environment
Did you know that Monaco is an important centre for studying how nuclear science can be used for peaceful pursuits. Sufficiently important that it receives international funding to solve some of mankind’s greatest challenges. Challenges that are dear to the heart of the Principality.
Why are some seas losing oxygen which is vital to the support of aquatic life? Seas like the Dead Sea, for example. Monaco’s IAEA laboratory is studying these complex questions in depth including the contamination of the environment and the impact on all forms of animal life. The Principality’s laboratories study pollution, including plastics, how micro-particles move within the food chain and also climatic changes including global warming.
It is science at the atomic level that provides clues and Monaco’s laboratories are at work unlocking these clues with the aid of nuclear science.
The latest funding of over a million dollars announced by the American Ambassador is headed Monaco’s way and nearly two thirds of this will go to Monaco’s IAEA lab to advance knowledge on the acidification of the oceans.
Under the Treaty for NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons lies a solid international commitment to focus nuclear science instead on peaceful pursuits. The United States since 2010 has poured over 350 million U.S. dollars into this effort – of which Monaco is an important player.
When you wander around the streets of Monaco do not be surprised to discover later you passed laboratories advancing the application of nuclear science to creating a healthier and peaceful world for our children. And not just on this planet. Monaco now has engineers locally deployed to launch satellites into space with advanced instrumentation for studying climactic change, just as Monaco has forged links with NASA so that young Monegasques have opportunities to explore space, even to the point of training as astronauts.
This month it is Monaco’s Laboratory of the International Agency for Atomic Energy that is making waves for the funds it is attracting even as it studies the Ocean’s waves and life within.
