A Regional Training Course on the practical aspects of setting up and validating national inventories of sealed radioactive sources has been carried out in the Bahamas from 5 to 9 September 2016.
In total, 12 participants from seven different countries attended, including students from newer IAEA Member States including Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados, which acceded to the IAEA Charter in 2015, as well as the Bahamas, which joined the IAEA in 2014. Other participating Member States included Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The training course, delivered through the IAEA’s technical cooperation programme, was designed to provide participants with the knowledge and practice necessary to set up and validate a national registry and inventory of sealed radioactive sources in their own country. The course also addressed the implementation of a suitable record keeping system for sealed radioactive sources (SRS), including disused SRS inventories. Participants were able to evaluate the individual situation of their country, and to discuss the measures needed to implement a national strategy for developing inventories of radioactive material. Having completed the course, participants are now able to advise their national authorities on the appropriate path to take in establishing national SRS inventories.
The training course is the first to take place under the technical cooperation project RLA9081, ‘Strengthening Cradle-to-Grave Control of Radioactive Sources’, which aims to protect people and the environment from potential adverse effects of ionizing radiation, while enabling and fostering the safe and secure use of radioactive sources to promote sustainable socioeconomic development. The project seeks to improve the control of radioactive sources in the Caribbean region through the establishment of a safe, adequate, and sustainable ‘cradle-to-grave’ management of radioactive sources.