From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
After 18 years of successful operation of the nation’s nuclear facilities, the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) on Tuesday gathered experts in Zaria for a 3-day workshop to brainstorm on the continuous safety and security of nuclear facilities in the country.
The experts at the training workshop holds at the Centre for Energy Research and Training (CERT), Zaria would be addressing the Safety, Security and Safeguards of Nuclear in the nation’s environment.
In his welcome address shortly before he declared the workshop opened, Chairman/CEO of NAEC, Prof Yusuf Ahmed, explained that the major objective of any national nuclear energy programme is hinged on the safety and protection of the lives of workers, people and the environment wherever such nuclear facilities are operated.
Professor Ahmed who was represented by Prof Abdullahi Madi, a Director in the Commission, said the security and safety of nuclear facilities should not be toyed with, pointing out that great lessons should be learnt from the nuclear accidents of 1979 in the USA, 1986 in Ukraine, and most recently in Japan in 2011.
In his remarks, the Director, Centre for Energy Research and Training, Prof Sunday Jonah, emphasised the need to protect nuclear facilities from malicious persons in the society, adding that the training workshop was timely.
According to Prof Ahmed, ‘the cardinal objective of any national nuclear energy programme is hinged on the safety and protection of the lives of workers, people and environment wherever such nuclear facilities are operated. Accordingly, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines Nuclear Safety as “The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the environment from undue radiation hazards.”
‘Premised on the foregone, the nuclear sector requires and engages a highly technical and skilled workforce and it remains the most regimented in the world. While taking into cognisance, the challenges involved in preventing and mitigating nuclear accidents and the effects of radiation that may result, the need for training and retraining of staff cannot be overemphasised because, firstly; it lays credence to the refrain “As we train, we shall perform” and secondly; the ultimate onus to ensure the safety of nuclear applications rest squarely on the shoulders of Operators of such facilities.
‘The deployment of nuclear energy for national socio-economic development is not a novelty and Nigeria has benefitted from the applications of nuclear and other radioactive substances for scientific research, education and training and also in specialised usages such as medicine, industry and agriculture. In these diverse areas of application, the radiation risks to workers, the public and the environment that may arise need to be assessed and controlled.
‘A short trip through the history of the nuclear sector shows that amongst its peers of Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards, considerations for Nuclear Safety were the foremost.
‘This is because, the overriding need for nuclear safety gained notoriety due to the 3-Mile Island incidence of March 28, 1979, in the USA, the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident of 26 April 1986 in present-day Ukraine and the most recent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident of 11 March 2011 in Japan.
‘Going forward, issues of nuclear safety are given utmost consideration due to their transboundary nature, environmental impact and the long remediation process involved whenever they occur.
‘In a bid to forestall future occurrences, the International Community through the IAEA guarantees that all national nuclear safety regimes are strengthened through the emplacement of relevant agencies such as the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) and the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA) with independent mandates and responsibilities.
‘The NNRA as a specialised agency of government enforces its regulations through appropriate legislation and bills while also ensuring that international statutes to further consolidate nuclear safety are domesticated.
‘Such international statutes include the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (1986); Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (1986); Convention on Nuclear Safety (1994); Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (1997), IAEA Code of Conduct on Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources, Nuclear Liability, amongst others.
‘Nigeria has operated its nuclear and radiological facilities for over 18 years without any incidence. The 30kw Miniature Neutron Source Research Reactor otherwise known as NIRR-1 attained criticality and was commissioned for operation on the 3rd of February 2004.
‘The facility was recently converted from High Enriched Uranium (HEU) to Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) core in 2018. The Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF) was commissioned for operation in July 2006 while the 1.7 e-volt Tandem Accelerator was also commissioned for operation in 2008.
‘This is aside from the Gamma Cameras, Linac Accelerators and other Radiotherapy equipment that are daily being put to use in various hospitals across the country for cancer diagnostics and treatment. At this juncture, it is pertinent to state that these laudable feats are recognised and are highly commended by the IAEA.
‘It is against this backdrop, the need to ensure the continuum of a workplace safety culture, that the Commission is organising this 3-day national training workshop for staff and operators involved in the management of critical facilities in its institutions.
‘This is with a view to deepening our commitment to safe and secure work ethics and to the basic principle of nuclear knowledge management.
‘As you are very much aware, the tripod of Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards is the bedrock upon which all national nuclear energy programmes are formulated. To this end, issues concerning these three are usually entwined and are rarely discussed in isolation.
‘Thus, while issues of nuclear safety may be allotted 85% of the time in this training workshop through presentations and discussions on issues such as Standard Operating Procedure, Emergency Preparedness Plan, Detectors and nuclear safety, the remaining 15% of the discussions shall border on nuclear security through the need for physical protection systems at nuclear facilities and also on safeguards through discussions on the importance of nuclear material accounting and of course, the important issue of Incidence Reporting, whenever they emanate.’