Luanda – At least 1,444 nuclear energy sources of category 2,3,4 and 5 have been identified in Angola by the Angolan Atomic Energy Regulatory Agency (AREA), the Secretary of State for Water Manuel Quintino said on Monday in Luanda.
Manuel Quintino said so at the opening ceremony of the technical meeting for conclusion of the Integrated Nuclear Safety Support Plan (INSSP), aimed to identify and focus on the nuclear safety needs.
The meeting is also intended to reflect on the effective and efficient execution plan for the next three to four years, based on the priorities identified.
According to the Secretary of State, many of these energies are being used in the health, agriculture, mining and oil industries.
At the moment, he said, more than 9,173 tonnes of naturally occurring radioactive waste materials from the extractive industries are stored in provisional repositories.
In view of this situation, he said that the government is concerned with the creation of an appropriate and effective national system of nuclear protection and security, promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy, as well as combating nuclear terrorism.
Manuel Quintino stressed that efforts are underway toward the completion of the approval and accession processes for other instruments as soon as possible, such as the Joint Convention on the Safety and Management of Spent Fuel and Radioactive Material, the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage.
Completion of the nuclear security support plan
In turn, the director of Angola's Atomic Energy Regulatory Agency (AREA), Pedro Lemos, said that the event aims to complete the Integrated Nuclear Security Support Plan, with experts from international and national agencies working on a draft for Angola.
Nuclear energy, also called atomic energy, is a type of energy produced through reactions that take place in the nucleus of atoms of heavy elements and change their structure.
The most commonly used heavy element is uranium. This process releases an enormous amount of energy, which has several applications, one of which is the generation of electricity. ANM/ART/DAN/NIC
