Newsletter: Issue 37/November-December 2015 First Internal Peer Review (IPR) Lecture on PAEC-IAEA Cooperation Pakistan has a very deep association with the International of PARR-1 Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which spans over half a First Internal Peer Review (IPR) of Pakistan Research century. Keeping in view the importance and usefulness of Reactor -1 (PARR-1) was conducted from November 02 - this mutual cooperation, Mr. Waqar Ahmad who is currently 13, 2015 by Directorate General of Safety (DOS). A team Minister (Technical) at the Permanent Mission of Pakistan comprising of nineteen members from DOS conducted the in Vienna, delivered a lecture at Dr. I. H. Usmani IPR. Fifteen members team from PINSTECH coordinated Auditorium, PINSTECH on 31 December, 2015. More than with the review team in multiple areas. 100 participants from various PAEC establishments A total of eight review areas and 18 sub-areas of PARR-1 attended the lecture. were reviewed by the team. The main review areas included Safety Analysis Report, Reactor Operation, Reactor Management, Health Physics and Safety Committees, Training and Qualification, Regulatory Supervision, Maintenance and Periodic Testing and Decommissioning. Mr. Waqar Ahmad, Minister(Technical) delivering lecture In his lecture, he discussed in detail the cooperation between PAEC and IAEA. He said that Pakistan joined Group photo of DOS and PINSTECH first IPR IAEA in 1957 as one of the pioneer members of the Agency. team members with Member (Science) The main purpose was the peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology in different areas of agriculture, Different labs and associated facilities of PARR-1 were energy, health, industry and environment. Due to its visited by the IPR team. The team also visited PARR-1 advanced nuclear programme, Pakistan enjoys a buildings including Control Room, Reactor Hall, Pump respectful reputation among the IAEA Member States as a Room, Cooling Tower, HVAC Section, Electrical and technically advanced, responsible and transparent state in Mechanical Maintenance Section and Radiation its dealing with other countries. This overall political image Emergency Assistance Centre, labs associated with is a culmination of Pakistan's continuous efforts in the PARR-1 i.e. Applied Health Physics Labs, Reactor IAEA's Board of Governors in promoting the peaceful uses Instrumentation Labs, Environmental Monitoring Labs and of nuclear energy for itself and for the other countries. Radioactive Waste Management Area. Pakistan has the honor to be the chairman of the IAEA Documents on Safety Analysis and Safety Analysis Report, Board of Governors for three terms during 1962-63, 1986- Emergency Plans, Radioactive Waste Management Plan, 87 and 2010-11. Previous chairmen of PAEC, Dr. Ishrat Procedures, Records and Checklists of the PARR-1 and Hussain Usmani, Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan and Dr. Ansar associated facilities were deeply investigated by the team. Parvez served as the chairpersons of BoG. As a gesture of Dr. Syed Mohammad Javed Akhter, Member Science increasing cooperation, many high level officials of IAEA alongwith Mr. Muhammad Asif, D.G DOS graced the including four DGs (Mr. Sigvard Eklund, Dr. Hans Blix, Dr. closing ceremony held on 13 November, 2015. Member Mohamad El Baradei and Mr. Yukiya Amano) and many Science appreciated the efforts of Nuclear Engineering DDGs and Directors have visited Pakistan over the years. Division (NED) towards safe operation of PARR-1 and he Country Programme Framework (CPF) is an agreement congratulated NED on achieving fifty years of safe and between Pakistan and IAEA which identifies the national reliable operation of PARR-1. priorities for socio-economic development. The document of 2014-18 CPF was developed through in-depth been our top most priority. Pakistan gives great importance consultations between the IAEA Technical Cooperation to the safety in its nuclear facilities and has excellent safety (TC) department and the relevant authorities of PAEC and record in its nuclear reactors. The 'Fukushima Response PNRA to use nuclear science and technology for Action Plan (FRAP)', to reassess and upgrade the safety of attainment of national development objectives, taking into our nuclear power plants was initiated immediately after account the status of nuclear applications in Pakistan. the Fukushima Daiichi accident. Immediate and mid-term TC Programme of IAEA is the main mechanism through actions have already been implemented with the which it delivers assistance to member states. Pakistan assistance from IAEA. Operational Safety Review Team has almost always been among the top three recipients of (OSART) Mission comprising of 14 IAEA experts has the technical assistance from IAEA and receives around recently been conducted at Chashma Nuclear Power Plant two million Euros every year in the form of equipment, (C-1) from November 23, 2015 to December 10, 2015. fellowships, expert assignments, research contracts, At the end of the lecture, thought provoking national projects and training programmes. We have question/answer session, healthy discussions were held to received commendable cooperation from IAEA for clarify various issues and problems faced by the scientists capacity building as well as in-kind support for establishing and engineers during their collaboration with IAEA. various laboratories by receiving costly equipment mainly under National as well as Regional Technical Cooperation th Projects. So far Pakistan has completed 153 national TC 7 Chemistry Conference projects in collaboration with the IAEA. Currently, various The 7th Chemistry Conference on “Chemistry in PAEC centres are participating in 7 national, 60 regional Engineering and Life Sciences” was organized by the and 9 inter-regional projects. Similarly, 229 Coordinated Chemistry Division, Directorate of Science, PINSTECH, in Research Projects (CRPs) have been taken up by PAEC collaboration with the Directorate of Nuclear Fuel Cycle scientists and engineers since the inception of this (DGNFC), New Chemical Complex (NCC) and Pakistan initiative. It is worth mentioning that the implementation Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS) rate of Pakistan's TC projects is over 98%. from November 24-26, 2015 as an activity of the After gaining experience through various programmes and PINSTECH Scientific Calendar 2015. projects of IAEA, 230 Pakistani nationals from PAEC and The conference was inaugurated by Respected Dr. PNRA have rendered their services as IAEA Experts in the Muhammad Aslam, Rector PIEAS. Director General areas of energy planning, nuclear safety, isotope PINSTECH Engr. Iqbal Husain Khan welcomed the applications, non-destructive testing, reactor physics, conference participants. In his welcome speech he said neutron activation, bio-fertilizers, radiation oncology and that chemistry conference always provides a forum for nuclear regulatory affairs during the last five years. sharing experience and exchange of knowledge in different Another landmark was the inclusion of Pakistan in IAEA areas of chemistry and that mutual sharing of ideas and initiative on cancer control. An Integrated Mission on discussion on problematic areas helps in enhancing Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (ImPACT) was technical capabilities. Dr. Muhammad Aslam in his conducted in December, 2013 and a team comprising of inaugural speech appreciated the efforts of organizers for seven IAEA experts visited several nuclear medical providing a common platform for PAEC establishments, hospitals in the public and private sector in Islamabad, national research institutions and academia to present Lahore and Karachi. A comprehensive study was carried their research work. out by the mission with mutual cooperation of health sector of Federal Government, WHO and PAEC. This Mission has submitted a detailed report in which a number of recommendations were made. Many of the recommendations are in the process of implementation. International Nuclear Information System (INIS) of IAEA is a very effective and useful way of disseminating knowledge about the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. 'Inputs' of locally published nuclear literature (non-conventional) are received, managed in a systematic scientific way and bibliographic 'Outputs' are produced. Pakistan joined INIS in 1969 just after its inception. Since then, PINSTECH library is serving as a National INIS Centre. In recent years about 1000 inputs of non- Dr. Muhammad Aslam, Rector (PIEAS), addressing the conventional literature published in Pakistan are submitted conference participants during inaugural session to INIS database. Recently, IAEA has awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for being among the top ten The conference coordinator, Dr. Sohaila Rehman contributors of INIS inputs out of 153 countries. presented the conference summary. In this conference, Recently, the number of safeguards inspectors for 215 participants from 32 multidisciplinary organizations Pakistan has increased from 24 to 36 to cater for the and 23 different Universities of Pakistan were registered. expanding nuclear power infrastructure in the country. The Conference program covered diverse topics related to Safety and security of our nuclear installations have always analytical, environmental, inorganic, material, organic and polymer chemistry, adsorption and separation methodologies, chemical and material engineering, nano materials, bio medical and medicinal chemistry. A poster session was arranged in the evening of the