UAE Hosts International Conference on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources

The Government of United Arab Emirates, through its Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), is hosting an international conference on safety and security of radioactive sources from 27 to 31 October 2013 in Abu Dhabi.

 
 
Organized in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), one of the world’s largest international forums convened yesterday under the title „International Conference on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources: Maintaining the Continuous Global Control of Sources throughout their Life Cycle.“
 
The event brought together more than 420 government officials, industry leaders, policymakers, national nuclear authority representatives from 100 countries and 13 regional and international organizations to share experiences in order to benefit from each other’s success and to continue building a harmonized global framework for the safety and security of radioactive sources.
 
The conference will deal with all aspects of safety and security of radioactive sources, including:
 
• Reviewing progress made in implementing, at the global level, the Code of Conduct, and the requirements and guidelines;
• Addressing remaining challenges and constraints with regard to ensuring the safety and security of radioactive sources throughout their life cycle, in particular with regard to the long-term management of disused sources;
• Maintaining a high level of awareness and support for the safety and security of radioactive sources on the part of policymakers and other stakeholders; and
• Improving coordination of efforts to assist States to develop sustainable programmes for the safety and security of radioactive sources.
 
His Excellency Ambassador Hamad Alkaabi, UAE Permanent Representative to the IAEA, who serves as the President of the Conference has inaugurated the forum with opening address followed by the speech of Dr. Denis Flory, IAEA Deputy Director General for Nuclear Safety and Security.
 
„Whenever the topic of safety and security of radioactive sources is discussed, the issue of the long-term management of and funding for disused sources arise. The absence of clear routes for the safe and secure handling of disused sources, including legacy sources, is a vulnerability of existing international system,“ said H.E Ambassador Hamad Alkaabi in his opening remarks.
 
Dr. Denis Flory, IAEA DDG for Safety and Security highlighted in his keynote speech that „Regardless of whether we represent safety or security or whether we view the safety and security of radioactive sources as integrated or as complementary, we should all work together to optimize our national regulatory frameworks, requirements and operational conditions to achieve one common goal: protecting people, society and the environment from the harmful effect of ionizing radiation that may occur through the inadvertent or malicious use of radioactive sources.“
 
The opening session also followed by a press conference with Ambassador Hamad Alkaabi and the IAEA DDG Dr. Denis Flory.
 
Communicating with journalists Ambassador Alkaabi emphasized that “Radioactive sources are extensively used for beneficial purposes around the world in medical, industrial, agricultural, research and educational applications. Ensuring their safety and security has been a matter of global attention over the last decade and significant improvements have been in this respect.“
 
“It is time to review the current situation and to identify the means of maintaining the highest possible level of safety and security of radioactive sources throughout their life-cycle and everywhere in the world,“ he added.
 
One week conference will provide to its participants unique possibility to learn from experiences and lessons learned from Member States through submitted national reports relating to the implementation of the Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources and its associated Guidance on the Import and Export of Radioactive Sources as well as a wide range of provided topical papers relating to the safety and security of radioactive sources.
 
More than 60 States has submitted national reports to share experiences of implementation of the Code of the Conduct.
 
In the framework of the conference, the UAE participants will share their experiences through various topical papers focusing on management of emergencies, safety and security events; integration of safety and security for effective control and protection of radioactive sources; controlling the movement of radioactive sources throughout the world; long-term safe and secure management of and funding for the disused sources in UAE; effectiveness of the social media or electronic technology-sharing information.
 
Background
 
As nuclear industry and States around the world battle to ensure safety and security of radioactive sources throughout its life-cycle, governments of Member States expect the international cooperation to play an important role to further strengthen the safety in the use of radiation sources and operation of related facilities, which is of paramount importance for the protection of people and the environment from any associated radiation risks.

To tackle the issue, the IAEA has established requirements and guidelines entitled ‚The Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources‘, which was approved by the IAEA Board of Governors and the IAEA General Conference in September 2003.
 
Additional Resources
 
 
Full text of the Conference President, H.E. Ambassador Hamad Alkaabi: http://www.uae-mission.ae/Editor/OpeningAddressAmbassadorAlkaabi27Oct2013AbuDhabi.pdf
 
 
Full text of the Code of Conduct can be accessed on:
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/code-2004_web.pdf