TAEC Works To Educate Institutions On Proper Handling Of Radioactive Sources To Cheat Disaster Outbreak
By Valentine
Oforo
THE Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC)
is running a helpful program to help impart the various institutions in the
public and private sector with needed knowledge on proper handling of
radioactive materials.
The program
targets the institutions which engages use of radioactive minerals technologies
in their daily executions.
These,
include the institutions in the road construction sector, health and water,
mining, crude oil pumps construction, as well as nuclear power generation.
Giving an
exclusive interview to this media platform, Jerome Mwimanzi, the Senior
Research Officer at TAEC expressed that handing of the radioactive materials
requires technological awareness and precautions in order to avoid outbreak of
possible environmental and human disasters.
He was
speaking on the sideline of an event to mark this year's observation of the
International Disaster Reduction Day, held at the national level in Dodoma
Capital City.
The
country’s atomic energy watch-dog, TAEC, was among the institutions that took
part in the event.
As part from
being one among the Commission’s major role, he expressed that the
implementation of the program was part to response to the prior incidents of
outbreak of numerous dangerous disaster that was chiefly propelled due to poor
handling of the isotopes -based minerals.
"For
instances, records depicts that there are a total of at least 30 cases of
disasters that emerged in the past due to unprofessional (illegal) trafficking
of radioactive sources in the country, " Mwimanzi detailed.
He added
that illegal importation and marketing of uranium was the other negative
development that has been contributing to outbreak of dangerous disasters,
saying TAEC was continuing to step up key initiatives to curb the spate in
cooperation with the other like-minded institutions.
To further
repair the situation, the Officer unveiled that the Commission had so far
developed vital regulations.
These,
according to him, include the Regulation On The Radiation Safety In The Mining
and Processing of Radioactive Ores, 2011, together with the Packaging and
Transportation of Radioactive Materials of 2011.
According to
Prof. Lazaro Busagala, the Director General of TAEC, unveiled that there has
been an increase of unpatriotic wave of unauthorized importation of various
radioactive minerals, the poor development which puts the national security, as
well as the citizens' health at stake.
So far, he
communicated that TAEC has managed to detect and legally deal with a total of
17 incidences of such poor tendencies at the different regions at the country’s
borders, which is a grim revelation.
"For instance,
in one among the notorious incidents, our intelligent system managed to nab a
local citizen in Dar es Salaam who illegally imported more than 9kg of processed
Uranium (U238 Uranium, 2.6× 109Bq/g)," he detailed.
He
explained, despite having vital socioeconomic benefits, if not handled
professionally, the radioactive minerals, including Uranium, can spread
negative effects to the human body, including destruction of body cells,
serious eye diseases and blindness, loss of manhood, and other environmental
destructions.
Radioactive
minerals are minerals that contain radioactive isotopes, which are atoms of an
element with an unstable nucleus that decays, or breaks down, over time. This
decay releases energy in the form of radiation, which can be harmful to humans.
During
2021/2022, he communicated, TAEC had managed to increase inspections of
imported food products to at least 66,609 inspections, being an increase of 274
percent inspections in comparison to a total of 7,817 inspections conducted
during 2016/2017.
Tanzania has
been a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 6 January
1976, and through the development the country has been receiving numerous key
profits, including technical and facility assistance in implementing a number
of projects in the health, agriculture, livestock and energy sectors, to
mention but a few.
The Tanzania
Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC) is the regulatory body responsible for all
atomic energy matters in the United Republic of Tanzania. It was established
under the Atomic Energy Act No. 7 of 2003.
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