Burundi’s access and contributions to reliable, up-to-date nuclear information were recently given a boost with the provision of training and IT equipment by the IAEA to the country's newly launched International Nuclear Information System (INIS) centre.
The IAEA's INIS hosts one of the world's largest collections of published information on the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. Its members, 131 IAEA Member States and 24 international organizations, contribute to the system with nuclear information literature.
Thanks to equipment provided by the IAEA, the Burundi INIS Centre is now able to collect, manage and make available customized nuclear information for peaceful purposes, fostering the implementation of national nuclear projects. These cover the fields of radiation protection and remediation on uranium legacy sites, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine, food and agriculture, and human resources development.
“By acquiring, processing, and preserving nuclear information, the Burundi INIS Centre fosters sharing of national scientific literature published by our researchers and scientists with the global community,” said Renovat Nizigiyiman, INIS Liaison Officer of Burundi.
Burundi became an IAEA Member State in 2009 and joined INIS in 2015. INIS currently comprises 4.2 million bibliographic records, 1.7 million of which lead to full-text documents.
Open access to nuclear information allows researchers, especially those in developing countries, to learn from the experiences of other nations to avoid duplication of efforts in the design and implementation of projects addressing their national development needs. The equipment and training provided to the Burundi INIS Centre will not only assist them in providing scientific information services, but also enable them to contribute its national scientific literature to the INIS repository.
The IAEA provides assistance to its Member States in building their nuclear information capacities through information processing training, information services. Through its technical cooperation programme, the Agency provides equipment necessary to operate information management centres, such as workstations, computers and printers.
By acquiring, processing, and preserving nuclear information, the Burundi INIS Centre fosters sharing of national scientific literature published by our researchers and scientists with the global community.
