Training course for operators and licensees from the Project – 60 participating countries

On 22 and 23 March 2022, ENCO carried out a remote training course entitled: “Verification of the Nuclear Security Status and Measures”. This activity within the ISTC – led implementation of Project -60 was designed for representatives of organizations involved in the use, storage and transportation of radioactive sources. Twenty-eight participants in the course came from various companies and institutions – operators, authorization holders, licensees for facilities in ionizing radiation. For instance, the biggest group of trainees came from the Ocean Road Cancer Institute, the largest tertiary care medical facility in Tanzania.

As the licensees are usually the shareholders that bear direct responsibility for nuclear security measures, the program of the training comprised the international recommendations and national legal and regulatory frameworks that describe and define such obligations. In their presentations leading ENCO experts Maja Boskovic, Oana Velicu, and Vladimir Rukhlo provided also perspectives on the safety and security authorizations, licensee’s records and reports, information protection, control and verification of radioactive source inventory, and other related topics. Sorin Repanovici explained the IAEA requirements for the design and effectiveness of nuclear security system for radioactive sources, while Adriana Baciu spoke about the preparedness for and the response to radiological emergencies at facilities.

The training was duly appreciated by the nuclear regulators in the P-60 participating countries as these agencies struggle to engage the shareholders in the nuclear safety and security on a national scale.