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Wright Delivers the U.S. National Statement at the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Sep. 14, 2026

September 14, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:10:22

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered the United States national statement at the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the September 14, 2026 address; the department published the full text of the statement as delivered.

Wright urged more countries to join the Convention on Supplementary Compensation, calling it “the only international instrument with the potential to establish a global regime for civil nuclear liability and compensation,” and arguing that joining would help unlock project financing and facilitate civil nuclear cooperation. He noted that the United States has brought new 123 Agreements with Thailand and Singapore into force since the last General Conference and now has four intergovernmental agreements on civil nuclear cooperation in place, with more being pursued. On Iran, the statement put the choice as “continued defiance and isolation, or cooperation and a path toward greater security, prosperity, and integration with the international community.” Wright also asked the Agency to prioritize operational efficiency and remain focused on its core technical mandate of safeguards, safety, and security, and thanked the IAEA for its work maintaining nuclear safety in Ukraine.

Why it matters

The national statement is the administration’s nuclear diplomacy in one speech: export American reactors under American nonproliferation standards, fix the liability rules that slow financing, hold the line on Iran — and press the IAEA itself to stay inside its founding mission.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Delivers Official Statement at IAEA in Vienna, Austria” (official upload, embedded above); Department of Energy, “U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Delivers U.S. National Statement at the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria” (full statement text), September 14, 2026.