IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei said Saturday that the need to protect nuclear materials and facilities and to control radioactive sources have become an ever more global priority.

At The Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) International Partners Conference held at the Austria Center in Vienna, El Baradei said progress has been made in controlling the spread of radioactive materials.

El Baradei expressed his wish that efforts in this respect should continue in order to guarantee the peaceful use of nuclear technologies and international cooperation has "become the hallmark of these security efforts."

El Baradei said that if the GTRI and related initiatives are successful, "we will achieve a meaningful reduction in our vulnerability to nuclear and radiological terrorism."

The IAEA chief also pointed out that while nuclear security is and should remain a national responsibility, "many countries still lack the programs and the resources to respond properly to the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism."

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, estimates that as many as 110 countries do not have adequate controls over radioactive devices that could be used to build an explosive device that would spread radioactive materials.

Source: Xinhua