Arab atomic energy conference opens in Tunis

The conference of the Arab Atomic Energy Agency (AAEA) kick started here on Saturday, with representatives from AAEA member countries, including Kuwait, participating. In a keynote speech, the head of the conference Abdulrahman Al-Arfaj said to achieve development in Arab countries, fresh reliable energy sources should be found. He said the growth of nuclear energy and nuclear technology applications is contingent on the provision of solutions to the issues of safety and safe management of radioactive waste and response to nuclear radiation emergency. He added that nuclear energy could flourish if safety assurances are provided to people and concerted technical efforts are exerted in order to find scientific solutions to aforesaid questions. Al-Arfaj called for more work to make use of Arab experts specializing in nuclear technology with a view to bridging the gap between Arab societies and progress in the peaceful usage of nuclear technologies under the umbrella of the AAEA. He also called for attaching more attention to sound planning in order to fulfill the AAEA's goals and to capitalize on nuclear sciences and technologies and knowledge, and to achieve development and prosperity to the Arab people. For his part, AAEA Director General Abdulmajeed Mahjoub said his authority has carried out a total of 23 training activities for 450 Arab trainees as part of the AAEA's 2020 Arab peaceful nuclear strategy. It has also organized workshops and scientific visits as well as experts' meetings in cooperation with member states and several international nuclear agencies. In this context, he stressed the significance of providing more support to the authority's future projects, mainly a training reactor simulator for peaceful nuclear uses and a radioactive waste treatment cell. The two-day conference focuses on resolutions and recommendations made by the last conference of the AAEA and an Arab conference on peaceful atomic energy uses in 2014, together with several administrative and financial matters for the agency.