In this file photo, the sign of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is pictured in front of the headquarters, photographed in Vienna on Dec 17, 2021. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment signed an agreement with the IAEA on May 22, 2023 to establish the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center in Beijing, the ministry said in a news release. (PHOTO / AFP)

A center affiliated with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has been designated as the International Atomic Energy Agency's first global collaboration center for nuclear and radiation safety, according to the ministry.

The ministry signed an agreement with the IAEA on Monday to establish the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center in Beijing, the ministry said in a news release. IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Tian Weiyong, deputy head of China's National Nuclear Safety Administration, attended the signing ceremony.

Designated by the IAEA as a partner, the center will make full use of its resources and advantages to cooperate with the agency's member states in a series of fields, including ensuring radiation safety, transporting nuclear waste and promoting capacity-building, the ministry said.

According to the IAEA, China is also home to two other centers that collaborate with the agency: the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences for research, development and capacity-building of nuclear techniques in food and agriculture; and the China Atomic Energy Authority for research, development, testing and training on nuclear security detection and physical protection technologies.

The agency said Grossi also visited China's State Nuclear Security Technology Center in Beijing on Monday.

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"Nuclear security is an essential component for the successful development of nuclear energy. China's State Nuclear Security Technology Center and the IAEA will further strengthen our collaboration, in particular with IAEA's nuclear security center in Seibersdorf (Austria)," Grossi was quoted as saying in an IAEA media release.