On September 15, Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chudakov and China National Nuclear Corporation's (CNNC) Chief Scientist Zhang Shengdong signed an agreement to establish the world's first IAEA Collaboration Center for Advanced Technology in Research Reactor Decommissioning at China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) and unveiled its plaque. This milestone underscores IAEA's recognition of CIAE's expertise and contributions in reactor decommissioning and highlights China's growing international ranking and influence in this field. It also marks China's second IAEA collaboration center established at the CIAE.

The IAEA Collaboration Center for Advanced Technology in Research Reactor Decommissioning is an international platform for resource integration, exchange and cooperation. Under the center's collaborative mechanism, CIAE will strengthen collaboration in decommissioning technologies with nuclear experts, academic organizations, enterprises, and institutions from IAEA member states. The center will provide technical guidance and talent training to countries around the world, establish demonstration cases for the decommissioning of global large-scale research reactors, and build technical reserves for nuclear power plant decommissioning. The center will also accelerate innovation and the development of reactor decommissioning technologies in China, help transform Chinese technologies, solutions, and expertise into global products, and contribute to promoting the sustainable development of global nuclear energy. This will help build a community with a shared future for humanity and ensure the safe use of nuclear energy.

As a core research and development institution in the field of nuclear facility decommissioning in China, CIAE has established a comprehensive decommissioning technology system and standards and has provided extensive engineering experience to the international nuclear facility decommissioning field. With the support of multiple IAEA technical cooperation projects, CIAE conducted extensive technical exchanges and collaborations regarding the decommissioning of China's first heavy water research reactor (101 reactor), providing strong support for the project's establishment.