Nuclear Safety & SecurityNews
NORM 7 Symposium, Beijing, China, April 2013
 NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) Symposia Series is one of the conferences that the IAEA officially supports has been organising every three years in the recent past. This conference series was first hosted in Europe and is now being held in other parts of the world. Its focus is to provide for harmonization of radiation protection in industries and work activities related to naturally occurring radioactive materials. The first symposium in the series was held in Amsterdam in 1997 and then successively Krefeld, Germany (NORM II), Brussels, Belgium (NORM III) in 2001, Szczyrk, Poland (NORM IV), in 2004, Seville, Spain (NORM V), in 2007 and the sixth (NORM VI) in Marrakesh, Morocco in 2010. The NORM symposia reflects the growing interest within regions in the management of exposure to NORM. The close involvement of the IAEA in most of these symposia is demonstrated through it's publication of the Proceedings of the Szczyrk symposium - published as IAEA-TECDOC-1472, while the Seville and Marrakesh symposia were published in the IAEA Proceedings Series. National regulatory bodies, technical and research organizations, industrial organizations from phosphate industry, titanium industry, mining industry (coal, uranium and metal), rare earth industry, metal production industries have been either involved in the past conferences relevant to the topic or possibly be involved in future conferences for coherence and harmonization of radiation protection in the NORM sector. The Seventh International Symposium on NORM will be organised by the China Institute of Atomic Energy with co-organization by the China Atomic Energy Authority, National Nuclear Safety Administration, China Society of Radiation Protection, Tsinghua University, China University of Geosciences and University of South China in cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency, in Beijing, April 22-26, 2013. more |
Transboundary movement of scrap metal – IAEA experts meet to develop non-binding legal instrument
 In order to address growing international concern with problems related to radioactive material that is inadvertently present in scrap metal, the International Conference on Control and Management of Radioactive Material Inadvertently Incorporated into Scrap Metal was convened in Tarragona, Spain in February 2009. The participants at this conference recognized “the potential benefit that would result from establishing some form of binding international agreement between governments to unify the approach to trans-border issues concerning scrap metal containing radioactive material.” In response the IAEA Secretariat held two Open-ended meetings where a draft Code of Conduct on the Transboundary Movement of Radioactive Material Inadvertently Incorporated into Scrap Metal and Semi-Finished Products of the Metal Recycling Industries was developed. This draft Code was subsequently circulated to Member States and their comments solicited. A third Open-ended meeting on the development of the document will be held in Vienna on 25 February to 1 March 2013, where the draft Code will be finalized in anticipation of its later consideration by the policy-making organs of the IAEA. more |
Establishing a Regulatory Infrastructure for Safety and Security of Sources in the Republic of Togo
 From 27 to 29 August 2012 the IAEA, together with international experts from Mauritania, Tunisia and Morocco, conducted an advisory mission in the Republic of Togo. The IAEA mission was hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Togo. The main objective of the mission was to assess the current status and provide assistance in support of the establishment of a regulatory infrastructure for safety and security of radiation sources in the Republic of Togo. The mission provided an opportunity to familiarize the Togolese participants with the IAEA Safety Standards and Nuclear Security Series publications related to the establishment of a regulatory infrastructure, and to identify national actions to improve the control of radiation sources. The advisory mission was well-received. Six Ministers and their representatives, as well as numerous technical specialists from sectors such as foreign affairs, health, environment, industry, higher education and research, public security and protection, defence, customs, the army, and the medical sector participated in various meetings of the mission. |
Regional Workshop on Establishing a Regulatory Infrastructure for Safety and Security of Sources in the Carribean Region
 From 11 to 15 June, 2012, under a cooperation agreement with the European Union, the IAEA organized a regional workshop in Kingston, Jamaica to assess the current status and provide assistance to selected States of the Caribbean Region in support to the establishing and improving their regulatory infrastructure for radiation safety and security of radioactive sources. The workshop was attended by 58 participants from 14 States (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago), the majority of them being non IAEA Member states. The workshop was conducted by the IAEA staff from the Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste safety and the Office of Nuclear Security, together with representatives from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and external experts from Cuba and Canada. The workshop provided the opportunity to familiarize participants with IAEA Safety and Security standards and guidelines related to the establishment of a regulatory framework, and to identify actions, at the regional and national levels to improve the control of radiation sources. |
Management and Regulatory Oversight of Uranium Legacy Sites: Perspectives from Regulators and Operators
 The IAEA will conduct a joint scientific visit and International Workshop on ‘Management and Regulatory Oversight of Uranium Legacy Sites: Perspectives from Regulators and Operators’, at Grand Junction, Colorado USA on 13 to 24 August 2012. Prior to the Workshop, technical visits to projects in the region, addressing uranium milling operations, remediation and post closure care of uranium legacy sites will take place on 13-20 August.The purpose of the Workshop is to exchange information and examples on regulatory framework and implementation of remediation of uranium production legacy sites, including post-remediation long-term care programs. The sites included in the technical visit consist of a privately owned active uranium milling facility at White Mesa, Utah, a United States Department of Energy (USDOE) Environmental Management (EM) uranium mill tailings remediation project (UMTRA) in Moab, Utah; and several remediated former mill sites under the USDOE Legacy Management Program (LM). During the two-week event the following topics will include but not be limited to: Regulatory Framework for remediation; Roles and responsibilities of Regulators and Operators; Environmental Impact Assessments; Remediation design planning and Implementation; Radiation Protection; Environmental Monitoring Long term surveillance and maintenance. Approximately 36 persons from 33 Member States are expected to attend, as well as representative(s) from the USDOE, United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and IAEA. This event was supported under the auspices of the International Forum for the Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites (RSLS). |
Good Practices in the Processing and Control of Uranium Ore Concentrate
 The IAEA, together with the Government of the United States and the European Union, and in cooperation with the Government of Namibia, hosted a Regional seminar on “Good Practices in the Processing and Control of Uranium Ore Concentrate”. The seminar took place in Windhoek, Namibia on 23-27 April 2012. Uranium ore concentrate is the key material for civilian nuclear energy production and for the growth of civilian nuclear energy worldwide and Namibia is a leading supplier of this material. The Seminar targeted to promote a regional dialogue between industry and regulators on the management of uranium. Twenty-two countries and 15 commercial nuclear enterprises were represented at the Seminar, including some of the largest uranium producing countries and nuclear companies in the world. The objectives of the seminar were to provide a forum to discuss and document good practices in key areas of uranium ore processing. These areas were addressed by four working groups on regulatory development, process monitoring, nuclear security and transport and export issues. The seminar was structured to allow for the sharing of international, regulatory and industry perspectives as well as to promote the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In the framework of the Seminar the participants visited the Rössing, the world's longest running open pit uranium mine and the third largest producer of uranium oxide globally, which enabled seminar delegates to view first-hand the processing and control of ore concentrates. The recommendations driven at the seminar encourage Member States of the Forum of Nuclear Regulatory Bodies in Africa (FHRBA) to make efforts to ensure harmonization of requirements for safety, security and safeguards to the extent possible, with assistance from the IAEA in developing capacity building in SSS in the Uranium production cycle. |
Transboundary Movement of Scrap Metal
| The IAEA held a Second Open-ended Meeting of Technical and Legal Experts to Develop a Nonbinding Instrument on the Transboundary Movement of Scrap Metal that may Inadvertently Contain Radioactive Material. The meeting convened in Vienna, Austria, from 30 January to 3 February 2012. The purpose of the meeting was to finalize the text of a draft non-binding Code of Conduct that was developed at the first open-ended meeting on this topic, held in Vienna from 6 to 8 July 2011. more |
