Nuclear science pushed vs pollution

THE Philippine government is banking on nuclear science to help address the perennial problem on plastic pollution, in partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said on Tuesday that the breakthrough on nuclear technology can help achieve a circular economy.

“Plastic pollution is emblematic of this new era of challenges: global in scale, persistent in impact, and deeply entangled with the way economies grow. It affects biodiversity, public health, supply chains, the lives of our coastal and urban communities,” Mr. Marcos said at the opening ceremony of the high-level forum on NUclear TEChnology for Controlling Plastic Pollution (NUTEC Plastics).

“Addressing it requires going beyond regulation and advocacy. It requires technology that is credible, scalable, grounded in rigorous science,” he added.

NUTEC Plastics is the flagship initiative of the IAEA to help address plastic pollution, wherein irradiation is used to treat existing plastics and to make them fit for reuse, extending current recycling potential and enabling a wider and higher-value reuse.

“With radiation, you can do that. You can recycle without using solvents and other chemicals that create additional problems. And this is, in essence, what nuclear tech is all about,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

Established in 1957, IAEA is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera