NA Management Staff

Ms. Maria Betti, Head of the IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories (IAEA-MEL), Monaco

DIR Maria Betti

Maria Betti has been appointed as the first female Director of the IAEA's Marine Environment Laboratories (IAEA-MEL) in Monaco. She assumed the post 1 August 2008. A native of Italy, Betti is a reputed researcher with a strong contribution to the development of techniques for the analysis of radionuclides in bulk and particles from environmental materials. She carried out research for many years at the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), in Karlsruhe, Germany, leading the analytical chemistry and the environmental radioactivity groups.

ITU was the first civil installation worldwide to use mass spectrometry for analysis of radioactive microparticles, one of the tools used today in nuclear safeguards to detect undeclared nuclear activities. Betti also implemented advanced techniques for the Euratom and IAEA environmental sampling programmes supporting safeguards.

Betti has authored more than 100 scientific articles, mostly on analytical chemistry, nuclear technology, and environmental science and technology. She has a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Pisa and comes to the IAEA-MEL from the ITU in Karlsruhe.

Background

Among other areas, she has contributed to monitoring and measuring discharges, emissions and trace radionuclide concentrations in soil, vegetation, water and air under strict quality assurance principles, in support of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic. Maria Betti succeeds R. Fauzi C. Mantoura, who was recently honoured for his service. http://www-naweb.iaea.org/na/stories-na.html

The IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories are the only ones of their kind within the United Nations system and stand among the world´s leading centres for marine environmental protection. MEL was established in Monaco in 1961, in response to issues of radioactivity and nuclear residues in marine environments attributed to nuclear testing. Renamed "Marine Environment Laboratories" in 1991, the new name conveys more accurately the broad scope of responsibilities the laboratories assumed in providing scientific expertise and technical support to Member States. As part of the IAEA's Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, MEL has carried out worldwide radioactivity baseline studies covering the Atlantic, North & South Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic Oceans and the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas. Regional environmental 'hotspots' such as the Gulf, the Irish, Kara and Caspian Seas, New Caledonia and the Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls have also been investigated in detail.

MEL has derived unique marine radioecological datasets, which enable modelling and prediction of radionuclide pathways and risks through marine foodchains. The Laboratories apply nuclear and isotopic techniques to research and document pollution and other problems, and technically assist States facing threats to their lakes, seas, and coastal waters.