Accra, Aug. 10, GNA - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in collaboration with the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), on Monday began a five-day regional training workshop on the foundations of physical protection of nuclear material and facilities. The training is intended to improve the knowledge base of participants as far as physical protection of nuclear material and facilities are concerned and effectively train them in the customization of the state-of-the-art technology.

Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (Rtd), National Security Coordinator, in a speech read for him, underscored the importance of nuclear education saying in order to prevent the ultimate catastrophe, states and international organizations needed to work together to make nuclear and radioactive materials more secure and to detect and respond in a timely and professional manner to acts involving sabotage and theft of nuclear materials.

He commended the IAEA for its support to African member states, particularly Ghana, through the GAEC, in the area of technical assistance programmes.

Lt. Col Gbevlo-Lartey said the training would also help combat malicious acts involving nuclear and radioactive materials. He said as a pre-requisite to the effective and safe utilization of the development of nuclear techniques and practices, both member and non-member states were required to establish the necessary protection and safe infrastructure to regulate activities that could involve radiation exposure and interventions.

He expressed the hope that the training would enlighten participants on the dynamic trends of physical protection systems to the merit of socio-economic development of member states, particularly for Ghana and the continent as a whole, as far as the development and application of nuclear energy was concerned.

Prof. Yaw Serfor Armah, Deputy Director-General, GAEC, said the Commission was privileged to host the training course and urged participants to pick up the technical skills for reinforcement and review of the design and evaluation processes of the physical protection system in their countries and hence Africa. He explained that the course was designed to provide the basic understanding of physical protection as well as to demonstrate a

systematic methodology to design and evaluate physical protection

systems for nuclear facilities. It would also assist relevant authorities in developing and implementing the physical protection principles and equipments with reference to

system engineering, facility analysis and coordination between the

authorities in charge of nuclear security facilities.