Strengthening nuclear safety regulatory capacity in Africa

The European Commission set up an instrument to support countries in the development of their nuclear safety authorities, called “Team-Up”. Bel V is pleased to be part of this four year pilot project involving six African countries and European experts with a total budget of several million euros. The kick off meeting has been organized in the AMSSNuR office in Rabat (Morocco), February 12th and 13th.

This meeting brought together more than 35 nuclear experts from 10 different countries : Belgium, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, South Africa and Spain. During the kick off meeting, the different African countries have proposed an action plan accepted by the project steering committee under the supervision of representatives of the European Commission.

The 2025 work program has been elaborate around 6 technical different tasks on which each African country has expressed its priorities :

• Increased regulatory capacity to assess radiation protection measures, manage spent fuel and radioactive waste
• Safety Review and Assessment including Deterministic and Probabilistic approaches
• Harmonisation of Regulations for radiation protection and nuclear safety
• Communication with the Public on Nuclear Safety and Radiological issues
• Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) capabilities
• Capacity building for nuclear safety and radiation protection

The next phase for the project is to start implementing, in the different African countries, the work program which has been developed for 2025. The work program for the next years will be defined during the current year.

This first meeting during which all experts and countries had the opportunity to share their experiences and needs for the future development of nuclear safety and radiation protection on the African continent has been a great success.