The Expert Mission to Zambia, in frame of CoE Project 60, took place in Lusaka from 3 to 6 September 2018. The fifteen staff of the main stakeholders, (one woman) including the Radiation Protection Authority (RPA), Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA); Zambia Police, Zambia Army, Zambia Air Force, National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (NISIR), Lusaka Fire Brigade, and Green Eagle Centre participated in the meetings and subsequent review visit to the RAW store. Two experts of the Consortium (ENCO, SCK-CEN, and STUK) implemented the mission.
The objectives of the mission were to collect information on the status and issues of interest for the areas covered by P 60. The highlight for the mission in Zambia was that a significant part of the national CBRN team participated. Comprehensive discussion on the status and problems of main RN security issues was identified as being very useful for the CBRN NT.
In terms of legislation and regulations related with radiological security and safety, a lot has been done in Zambia. At present, the Ionization Protection Act, No. 16 of 2005 and its Amendment, Act No. 19 of 2011, as well as the respective Regulations are being revised. The new draft Nuclear Radiation Safety Bill is in the administrative procedure, at the Ministry of Justice.
The RPA was established in 2015 by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority Bill. It is very active on the establishment of full inventory of radioactive sources, search of orphan sources, and on general improvements of security related with the use of radioactive sources. The new regulatory inspection procedures include the control of the physical protection of the radioactive sources. MoUs were established between RPA and national stakeholders, but also with neighboring countries, to coordinate the security of radioactive sources and implement actions against illicit trafficking.
In Zambia the Radiological and Nuclear (RN) Emergency Response Plan has been drafted but it does not correlate with the emergency response for the CBRN as a whole. Assistance has been requested in the development of the CBRN response plan which should be used when RN Response is required.
The Consortium experts visited the Central storage facility of the disused and seized radioactive sources and assessed applied security measures.