Representatives from seven Caribbean Member States have met in Vienna to agree on a workplan for a four year IAEA technical cooperation project that will support the establishment and strengthening of their national regulatory infrastructures. The project aims to support the Member States of the Caribbean in the development of regulatory infrastructure, in order to help ensure the safe and secure use of radioactive and radiation sources.
The meeting, which took place 23 to 27 May at IAEA headquarters, brought together participants from Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and Bahamas, as well as international experts from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy, and IAEA staff who helped to fine-tune the work plan by offering a broad range of support and by identifying synergies with other ongoing projects.
As many of the participating countries are new IAEA Member States, the meeting attendees were given the opportunity to tour the Agency’s Seibersdorf Laboratories, where they received comprehensive presentations on the peaceful applications of nuclear technology, and were introduced to the facilities used by the Agency to deliver training and support.
At the close of the meeting, Naveen Ratan, the representative of Trinidad and Tobago and Designated Team Member for the project, spoke of the need for regulatory infrastructure to ensure the safe and secure use of radioactive sources in the Caribbean region. Recognizing that the task of establishing a regulatory infrastructure could be a struggle for small nations, he reminded the participants of their common strengths, saying, “We are one region. You have your neighbours to call on. We are in this together.”
With the plan of action for the project now agreed, with its ambitious but realistic goals, the participating Member States can expect to achieve concrete improvements in the regulatory infrastructure of the Caribbean over the course of the next four years.
