The 4th regional meeting of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) assistance program on strengthening regulatory control over radiation sources took place from Wednesday June 13, 2012 through Friday June 15, 2012 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with participants from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan and representatives of USNRC and contributors from the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
The regional meeting addressed all aspects of the USNRC assistance program, mainly to exchange experience and lessons learned within the program...
News from 2012
From May 12-19, 2012, Skip Young attended the WNU Radiation Technology School as a guest speaker. The WNU Radiation Technology School is a training program aimed at younger professionals who will hold managerial roles in radiation technology (RT) production and applications. These RT professionals will be responsible for implementing their national laws and regulations to ensure the safe and secure use of radiation sources The Radiation Technology School's three-week program features: lectures from some of the world's foremost leaders in the area of radioisotope production and application;...
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), met with its counterpart Costa Rican nuclear regulatory organization within the Ministry of Health, the Division Tecnica de Rectoria de la Salud (MS-DTRS) on April 9-10, 2012. The objective of this meeting was to define activities with which the USNRC could assist the Costa Rican regulator, activities which MS-DTRS identified as priorities. A Memorandum of Meeting was developed under which four activities will be completed. They are (1) to share information about a possible post-graduate course in radiological health; (2) to share information...
The Georgian Parliament ratified a new law on nuclear and radiation safety. The legislation aims to:
Ensure that nuclear materials, equipment and technology, are used legally and peacefully in compliance with the nonproliferation regime
Establish the basic requirements for safe and secure nuclear materials and other sources of ionizing radiation sources
Ensure compliance with requirements of nuclear and radiation safety through harmonization with international standards.
The law passed on March 20, 2012 replaces the outdated law passed in 1998 . Development of the legislation was...
During March 12-16, 2012 RSRP provided training of AEC staff (Atomic Energy Council of Uganda) in radiation source inventory and development of the National Registry of radiation sources, x-ray generators, associated devices and user facilities. The RSRP training team installed RASOD (sources database) and AUTHORIZATION (licensee database) software and provided training. The training included field exercises in inventorying technique and hands-on training on data entry and software usage. Training was provided by Aleksandr Stepanyan of from Armenian Nuclear Regulatory Authority and Grigol...
On February 22-23, 2012, Ms. Ingrid Martinez, head of the CNE, visited the Nuclear Regulatory Commission headquarters in Rockville, Maryland for discussions on how the NRC conducts public outreach. During her visit, Ms. Martinez had a tour of the Public Document Room and a discussion of the tools and resources for the public’s access to NRC’s processes and decisions. She also met with representatives from the Office of Congressional Affairs; had a briefing on event reporting through the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) Notification System to the International Atomic...
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), met with its counterpart Bolivian nuclear regulatory organization, the Instituto Boliviano de Ciencia y Tecnolgia Nuclear (IBTEN) on February 9-10, 2012. The objective of this meeting was to define activities with which the USNRC could assist the Bolivian regulator, activities which IBTEN identified as priorities. A Memorandum of Meeting was developed under which a 2-year project will begin to enhance the Bolivian registry for radiological materials.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), met with its counterpart Colombian nuclear regulatory organization, the Autoridad Nuclear within the Ministry of Mines and Energy, on February 6-7, 2012. The objective of this meeting was to define activities with which the USNRC could assist the Colombian regulator, activities which the Colombian authority identified as priorities. A Memorandum of Meeting was developed at the end of the second day which noted three general areas for joint work: first, to provide review and comment on Colombian safety and security regulations and requirements...
The Dominican Republic Commission on Nuclear Energy (CNE) hosted a four-day workshop with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission focusing on regulatory approaches to physical protection of radioactive sources. The objective of the course was to assist the Dominican Republic participants to better understand the implementation of physical protection regulations for the health, safety and security of individuals, the public and the environment. The state is responsible for promoting a security culture in the uses of radioactive sources, establishing and maintaining the legislative and regulatory...
The CNEA (National Commission of Nuclear Energy of the National University of Asunción (UNA)) with support from RSRP initiated a country-wide project to validate disposition of radiation sources and to develop a National Registry of radiation sources in Paraguay. The project will perform administrative search and confirm source’s disposition through on-site inspections. During the visits the CNEA inspectors will verify facility and source’s data, assign unique regulatory identification numbers and tag the equipment, and take photo records of radiation sources / associated devices. The data...