India extends training opportunities through IAEA

Nuclear professionals from across Asia will be able to use new training facilities at a soon-to-be-opened Indian research centre under extended cooperation between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Nuclear professionals from across Asia will be able to use new training facilities at a soon-to-be-opened Indian research centre under extended cooperation between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

An artist's impression of the GCNEP building (Image: GCNEP)

Sekhar Basu, chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, and Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, have agreed on the extended cooperation that will enable IAEA-nominated experts in advanced nuclear energy, nuclear security, radiological safety, nuclear material characterisation and applications of radioisotopes and radiation technologies to use the new training facilities of India’s Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP).

The Indian government approved the establishment of the GCNEP in 2010, and construction began on the facility, near New Delhi, in January 2014. The centre is to house five schools to conduct research into advanced nuclear energy systems, nuclear security, radiological safety, nuclear material characterisation and applications for radioisotopes and radiation technologies, with training facilities to include virtual reality laboratories and a radiation monitoring, calibration and accreditation laboratory.

Basu said the centre aims to promote safe, secure and sustainable nuclear energy through global partnerships. The IAEA will be able to use the centre's facilities to train experts from the region and beyond, he said. He also said India would be ready, with IAEA support, to extend its national network of more than 100 cancer care centres and convert it into a regional or global network to make its expertise available to cancer care providers from other countries.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News