IAEA-MEL Director's Word
Prof. Maria Betti of Italy is the the new Director of the Marine Environment Laboratories of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA-MEL) in Monaco. Her appointment took effect 1 August 2008. She comes to the IAEA from the European Commission Joint Research Centre in Germany.
Prof. Betti carried out research at the Joint Research Centre's Institute for Transuranium Elements, leading the analytical chemistry and the environmental radioactivity groups. She strongly contributed in the development of techniques for the analysis of radionuclides in bulk and particles from environmental materials. In this field, her laboratory was the first civil installation worldwide using mass spectrometry for analysis of radioactive microparticles, one of the tools used today in nuclear safeguards to detect undeclared nuclear activities. She additionally implemented advanced techniques for the Euratom and IAEA environmental sampling programmes supporting safeguards.
Among other areas, she 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.
Prof. Betti succeeds Dr. Fauzi C. Mantoura, who was recently honoured for his service News.
Background
The IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories the only marine laboratory within the UN organisation and one of the world´s leading centres for marine environmental protection. Established in Monaco in 1961, the Laboratory applies nuclear and isotopic techniques to research and document pollution and other problems, and technically assists States facing threats to their lakes, seas, and coastal waters. Besides its work for IAEA programmes, the Laboratory is able to support technical assistance requests from other UN agencies.
