XQ9900024

PREPARATORY COMMISSION FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST-BAN TREATY ORGANIZATION

Distr. FOR PARTICIPANTS ONLY CTBT/WS/LEGREL/IC-2/CRP. 10 1 June 1999

ENGLISH ONLY

Cairo, 1-3 June 1999

The National Radiation Protection Authority and its regulatory programme Potential benefits of the CTBT and thoughts on cooperation G. GebeyehuNational Radiation Protection Authority, Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia based on its strong policy on disarmament and non

proliferation of weapon of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapon considers CTBT as one

of the measures towards the safe world and secured future and free from nuclear weapon in the

21st century. The full implementation of this treaty increases the international security as well as

the national security of every state signatory and the world peaceful environment. Besides

addressing these prime objectives of the treaty the verification regime of CTBT also has many

scientific, technological and economic benefits. In the past years Ethiopia became an active

participant in the scientific and political developments as well as supporter of the CTBT.

As cooperation is the main theme of this Regional Workshop, awareness about the participant

institutions becomes vital. This paper has two main parts. The first part describes the designated

institution for the CTBT implementation in the area of Radionuclides in Ethiopia and its scientific

and regulatory programme as well as the main activities in Ethiopia employing techniques.

The second part of the paper account for the links between the objectives of the national institute

with the CTBT. It also further draws substantive details about the benefit’s that could accrue from

participating in CTBT implementation and summarizes the discussion by suggesting modalities

for building partnership and cooperation.

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PARTI

THE NATIONAL RADIATION PROTECTION AUTHORITY AND ITS REGULATORY PROGRAMME1. Summary of Radiation Protection Activities in Ethiopia

1.1. Historical Background

The practice of radiation protection in the Federal Republic of Ethiopia dates back over 15 years.

Radiation Protection Service was initiated as a result of the introduction of irradiation techniques

for Biological researches at the University of Addis Adeba. The importance was soon felt and the

service was extended to the users of ionising radiation, mostly for radiation workers in X-ray

Departments of Hospitals in the country. This was possible with inputs from the Ministry of

Health and international bodies, mainly the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and

World Health Organization (WHO).

1.2. Present Status

After rendering radiation protection services under the University for several years the Unit was

transferred to a new administration to become, independent regulatory body the National

Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA), within in the Ethiopian Science and Technology

Commission (ESTC).

This was as a result of the promulgation of the radiation protection proclamation in 1993

(Proclamation no. 79/1993) which has the following main and general objectives.

• To render radiation protection services

• To regulate, control, supervise radiological work and all activities relating to

acquisition, use, transportation and disposal of radioactive substances, x-ray

equipment and other materials capable of emitting ionizing radiation, and

• To promote and encourage research and development in radiation protection.

A new organization structure which will allow NRPA render effective protection service and

broaden its coverage is approved by the Federal government and implemented.

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THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF NRPA

ETHIOPIAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

COMMISSION

Administration

Finance (2)

General Service (4)

RADIATION PROTECTION AND HEALTH PHYSICS

LABORATORIES SENIOR

RADIATION PROTECTION AND

SAFETYLICENSING AND

INSPECTION SENIOR

RADIATION PROTECTION AND SAFETY

PERSONAL DOSIMETRY LICENSING

COMPLIANCE MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL ANDWASTE MANAGEMENT

METROLOGY & CALIBRATIONEMERGENCY RESPONSE

SECRETARY (1)

EXECUTIVE

LEGAL OFFICER (1)

INTERNAL AUDITOR

GENERAL MANAGER

CHIEF RADIATION PROTECTION OFFICER

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE SERVICE HEAD

NATIONAL RADIATION PROTECTION BOARD

1.3. Legal Frame Work

The general law governing the practice of ionizing radiation has been in place for over 3 years.

The task of enforcing the law is the responsibility ofNRPA which is led by a ministerial board,

the National Radiation Protection Board (NRPB). The board is composed of 9 Vice Ministers, the

Commission of ESTC (chairman) and the General Manager ofNRPA (secretary). The board

meets at least twice a year.

Based on International Basic Safety Standards,

The regulation following the general law has been drafted with the assistance of the International

Atomic Energy Agency. A committee is formed by the ESTC for revision and translation before

sending it to the Government for approval.

1.4. Present Activities

1.4.1. Personal Monitoring Services

— Personal monitoring of radiation workers involved in radiological and other activities

is being provided with Thermoluminescence Dosimetry technique

— A total of 470 workers are not getting this service every month. The number is

increasing with more regulatory control

1.4.2. Inspection and Control of Radiation Emitting Sources and Devices

— Registration of sources and machines emitting ionizing radiation started after NRPA

is established. So far 260 x-ray machines and 23 sealed sources are registered. The

number seems to increase with more inspection and public announcements with mass

media.

— Inspection of radiological facilities is carried our yearly in Hospitals/Clinics

possessing x-ray machines.

— Licensing of the possession and use of sources and the practice of radiological work

is the matter which is considered after the test through inspection is passed.

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— Conditions requiring to use ionizing radiation are to register thereby to notify the

Authority, the type of sources/machines they posses, the operating personnel, the

intended use, etc.

For machines entering the country from abroad, the Customs Authority is informed to hold

applications for customs clearance until the applicants have fulfilled the formalities with regard to

registration.

The registered sources/machines are expected to be inspected according to the time schedule set

by NRPA. The purpose of inspection is to guarantee the safety of the workers and the public form

radiation hazards. In the case of radiological facilities, quality assurance tests of the machines are

carried out.

Institutions satisfying the safety stands will be licensed to operate radiation sources/machines.

The license, however, has to be renewed regularly.

1.4.3. Disposal of Waste and Spent Sources

— A set of radium needles have been buried in one Hospital after use has been stopped

for many years.

— There are also requests from the University of Addis Ababa and other research

institutions to dispose spent sources.

— An interim disposal/storage facility have been thought of for some time in the past

but could not be materialized so far. In this regard the NRPA developed a project

proposal for establishing radioactive waste repository facility.

1.4.4. Environmental and Food Monitoring

— A high resolution gamma spectrometry system is used to analyze food and

environmental samples.

— Certificate of radioactivity content is provided to applicants, for import export food

stuffs.

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— Ambient level radiation measurement is carried out at different stations with in and

outside the capital.

1.4.5. Major Facilities

♦ A computerized Solaro TLD reader is used, for personal monitoring of radiation

workers in the country.

♦ A hyper pure Germanium (HPGe) gamma ray spectrometry system complete with the

electronics and the software.

♦ A low resolution Nal gamma ray spectroscopy system complete with the electronics

and the necessary software.

♦ The instrumentation of alpha spectrometry system, with Si surface barrier detector

and a vacuum pump.

♦ Quality assurance test Kits and a number of dose measuring devices.

♦ A small instrumentation and maintenance unit.

♦ A 20Ci (Cesium) source and an X-ray machine (together with the accessories),

installed in the secondary standard calibration bunker for calibrating a radiation

dosimetry instruments.

2. Peaceful Application of Nuclear Techniques and R&D

NRPA is mandated to regulate, supervise and control all activities involving Ionizing Radiation

and Nuclear Techniques.

It is now widely accepted that nuclear techniques constitute an important part of science and

technology inputs that are instrumental in the attainment of increased productivity and economic

development. The application of proven nuclear techniques in such areas as Insect and pest

control (SIT), Mutation Breeding, Soil fertility studies, Human Health, Isotype Hydrology and

Geothermics is gaining a broader areas of use with an increasing momentum in Ethiopia.

The activities involving peaceful application of nuclear techniques in Ethiopia are summarized as

follows.

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2.1. Animal Health, Nutrition and Reproduction

The first project in the area of animal sciences started in 1971 which continued under two phase

until the end of the seventies. The emphasis then was on the use of isotopes and radiation in the

field of medical and vereninary parasitology. Later on the activity also expanded to include

animal reporodcution aspects as well.

Institutions have undertaken various research projects in the field of animal health, reproduction

and nutrition. These include, Development of Feed Supplementation strategies, Reproduction

performance of Cows under small Holder Farm Management systems, Development of Bioassay

Techniques to Characterize Ethiopian Feed Resources, disease and Emergency problems under

small scale dairy cattle farms and Diagnosis and Monitoring of Rinderpest and Trypansomiasis.

Such research and development projects still progress with a particular focus on projects with,

visible impact and well articulated mechanisms for reaching the targeted end-users.

2.2. Sterile Insect Technique for Eradication of Tse-Tse Fly

A project for Eradicating the deadly insect “Tse-Tse”fly from the souther Rift Valley of Ethiopia

is recently launched. The project is expected to employ 18k curie Gamma irradiator facility.

The initial activity is to eradicate this insect from a pilot zone of 51.00km2 and it is envisaged to

expand and cover the estimated 25,000 km2 area from the Southern Rift Valley of Ethiopia.

The expected direct and indirect benefits of the project arise from reduction in cattle morbidity

and mortality losses and improved performance of livestock.

2.3. Mutation Breading the Increasing Agricultural Productivity

At present there are two IAEA assisted research projects in the area of applications of nuclear

techniques for crop improvement. Improvement of “Tef’(staple crop of Ethiopian high land)

through mutation breeding, and application of nuclear techniques in plant breeding and

biotechnology.

The project for improvement of Tef has an overall objective of creating generic variability for

traits like leaf rust and shattering resistance in Tef through the use of induced mutation techniques

upon which selection is to be made. The project employs a 8 k curie Gamma irradiator facility.

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2.4. Human Health

In the area of human health the peaceful application of nuclear techniques is employed in the

fields of Nuclear Medice, Radio-pharmacy and Radiotherapy.

The Nuclear Medicine Unit in one of the referral hospitals of Addis Ababa provides clinical

services albeit at smaller scale since 1984. The unit is equipped with a rectilinear scanner, dual­

channel uptake machine and a gamma camera.

The Radio-pharmacy section is also involved with the local preparation of aqueous radio

pharmaceutical kits and acquired recently the necessary equipment in order to proceed with the

lyophilized kits.

The Radiotherapy Center started its services partly in July 1997 and equipped with among others

a cobalt 60 teletherapy and low dose rate brachytherapy units, dosimetry equipment, treatment

planning system and a mould room facility.

2.5. Human Nutrition

In this area an R&D project is in progress with an objective of assessing micronutrient

deficiencies in the nutritionally vulnerable women and children using isotope technique.

2.6. Isotype Hydrology and Geothermics

Water and energy resources development comes high on the development priority list of the

country following agriculture and environment protection.

Isotope techniques are broadly employed in Geothermal and Hydrological studies. Isotope

Hydrological and Geothermal Studies” project aiming to provide a conceptual Hydrological and

Geothermal studies of the Rift Valley model for exploration and exploration of Geothermal spots

through isotopic and geothermal techniques as the basis of development of geothermal resources.

A number of geothermal fields in the-Rift-valley, covering 150,000 km2 are at various stages of

exploration and development.

There is also another on going part of a Regional Model Project activities which aim at the

application of isotope in hydrological studies in an integrated manner with the conventional

hydrogeologicval methods.

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The Nuclear Science and Technology has evolved as part and parcel of the overall Science and

Technology development in Ethiopia under the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission.

The country programme in Ethiopia places emphasis on agriculture, water and geothermal

resources development, human health and building partnership with appropriate national and

international institutions.

In parallel with these socio-economic development oriented cooperation areas, Ethiopia aspire to

strengthen the national nuclear science and technology capacity and infrastructure to the extent

that it can meaning-fully and sustainably address demonstrated needs. Other than the scientific

and development areas of cooperation Ethiopia realizes its international obligations in safeguards

and nuclear safety.

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PART II

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF THE CTBT AND THOUGHTS ON COOPERATION

1. The Links Between the Objectives of Nrpa and the CTBT Treaty

The National Radiation Protection Authority is an autonomous public authority having its own

legal personality.

The objectives of the Authority are:

• Rendering Radiation Protection Services;

• Regulating, controlling and supervising radiological work and all activities relating to

the acquisition, use, transportation and disposal of radioactive substances, x-ray

equipment and other machines capable of emitting ionizing radiation; and

• Promoting research and development in radiation protection.

The Authority is also delegated with an appropriate power and duties in order to ensure that the

public is adequately protected form the attendant risks of damage to health, property and the

environment.

On the other hand the CTBT regime envisages the creation of a broader context for safer and

secure world. With this background, although at a Micro level and with thinly focused objectives,

I believe that the activities NRPA as a of the National Authority will be contributing to the

achievement of the broader goals, and the knowledge and experience developed so far will also

form the core foundation up on which the full scale CTBT verification related technologies could

be implemented. This point marks the need to associate the responsibilities of CTBT verification

related activities with an appropriate National Institution, as an important step for success as I am

going to comment on this issue in the letter part of the paper.

2. Benefits That Could Accrue From CTBT Implementation

As per the CTBT, state parties will verify the comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty using a

state-of-the-art monitoring and analysis system to identify nuclear explosions any where in the

world. This framework provides a cooperative and transparent context promoting confidence

among state parties with the ultimate goal of achieving a safe and secure world.

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Verifying the provisions of the treaty will require an extensive global monitoring system of 321

seismic, hydroaqustic, inffasound and radionuclide stations, together with state-of-the-art

communications and analysis software know as International Monitoring System (IMS) and

International Data centre (IDC).

In this network African countries will deploy and host 38 individual IMS stations and will be also

be connected either directly or through their national data centres with the IDC.

The completion of the IMS and the IDC will definitely form a solid foundation for an

unprecedented global test ban verification system. Parallely these same capabilities can also

support a broad range of international and national scientific and technical co-operation.

As the verification system is designed to detect and identify nuclear explosions over the entire

earth it also monitor considerable background “noise” from large number of earthquakes,

volcanoes, atmospheric disturbances, and conventional explosions. The data and information

produced by this system will be useful both to states parties for CTBT verification and to

organizations concerned with geophysical monitoring as well as for business at large.

This possibility for dual use of the IDC data and information is clearly envisaged by the CTBT

Article IV, paragraph 10.

The potential “dual-use” of elements of the verification system can cover a range of applications

such as hazard monitoring, disaster relief, earth quake risk reduction, scientific and technical

training and economic mineral exploration.

Besides satisfying the primary objectives of the CTBT, the verification system serve important

social and economic goals and provide a broad agenda for international scientific and technical

cooperation by using the data and resources of the IMS and IDC.

In the context of most African states the following benefits can accrue from implementing the

CTBT and verification measures.

• State signatories will have a direct access to the IDC data and bulletins which will be

valuable for monitoring seismic hazards and radionuclide dispersion. These products will

significantly improve the quality and availability of seismic an radionuclide monitoring work

and the real time data could be valuable for disaster prevention and hazard mitigation.

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The organized and archived information could also be used for the business sector and

insurance companies for risk analysis.

• State signatories can benefit from the technical assistance that can be provided for;

— Establishing the IMS individual monitoring stations;

— In formulating the requirements for selection and screening of data and products and

eventually for developing the capability to receive, process and analyze IMS data at their

national data centres.

• Implementing countries will also benefit from the specialized scientific and technical

trainings offered by the PTS to train National personnel. The delivery of outputs from such

trained personnel will strengthen the national programmes for verification related activities as

well as support other economic sectors.

3. Thoughts on Cooperation

• For effective implementation of the CTBT at large, effective implementation of the

verification regime is an essential prerequisite.

• For complete and effective global verification regime, timely and excellent completion of

national verification related activities is decisively essential.

• Africa’s context for implementing such national verification regimes is by-in-large different

♦ Political

♦ Economic

♦ Social

♦ Technological

• The above context creates a situation characterized with the problems of :-

♦ Loosely defined responsibly, at worst lack of responsibility.

♦ Assignment of inappropriate institutions

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♦ Bounded rationality

♦ Problems of knowledge and expertise

♦ Lack of commitments (low in priority)

• To come out of this situation, accelerate the implementation process and achieve the treaty

objectives in a sustainable manner, the only available and viable gateway is through building

effective partnership and cooperation

• Through cooperative framework we can achieve

♦ Better synergy;

♦ Better environment for cross fertilizing ideas;

♦ Resource efficiency “Cooperative use of scarce resources”(man power, Equipment)

♦ Suitable environment for propagating experience and creation of multiplier effect.

• How such cooperation can be established?

I suggest a three stage approach.

1. Provisional Technical Secretariat should closely work with signatory state parties to support

and encourage the representation of appropriate national institutions.

2. Creating a regional coordinating Mechanisms with in the PTS of CTBTO.

♦ Will provide essential flexibility in formulating SMART objectives;

♦ Will provide better coordination;

♦ Focused approach to achieve resource intensity;

♦ It will provide effective implementation back-stopping service.

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• The regional coordinating mechanism could be a multi-disciplinary project team involving

experts from, IMS, EDC, and OSI as well as legal and external relations.

• The major tasks of the project team

♦ Closely liaise with designated national authorities, institutions;

♦ Assist counterpart institutions in developing realistic action plans;

♦ Provide project implementation technical support services;

♦ Conduct periodic evaluation, drawing recommended actions and provide technical back­

stopping in future actions.

3. Establish or designation of centres of excellence

♦ Joint research programs in radionuclides, monitoring of trans-boundary rivers, soils and

environmental samples.

♦ Data exchange

♦ Training of personnel.

Conclusion

The end of nuclear weapon development activities is often considered as the principal benefit of

the CTBT. However this perspective may be limited. As the world begins to implement the treaty

it has become clear that the development and operation of the CTBT verification system will

provide a range of additional benefits if the data and analysis products are available for dual use

applications. These applications have important economic and social implications, especially for

African countries with limited technical infrastructure.

For ensuring effective implementation of the treaty and maximizing their benefits from

participating in the CTBT, state parties in Africa should adopt a proactive and cooperative

approach as partnership and cooperation in the area is a gateway for mutual advantage by

achieving global peace and security on the one hand and economic technological and social

advancement on the other.

Thank you.

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