ammonnews.net

Ammon News - The European Union announced Tuesday that a cooperation project with Jordan to enhance radiation safety and the safe management of radioactive waste is completed.

The €1.8 million project, financed by the European Union's Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC), gave "valuable" support to three Jordanian institutions; the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) and the Ministry of Environment of Jordan (MOENV), according to a statement.

One major topic in the project was the licensing of SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East).

SESAME is a "third-generation" synchrotron light source that was officially inaugurated in Allan in 2017. The region’s first major international centre of excellence, SESAME is a cooperative venture by scientists and governments of the region[1] set up on the model of CERN, according to the statement.

In the project, it said, senior European experts shared their experience on the technical aspects and the safety features of the SESAME synchrotron, and thus supported EMRC in the ongoing licensing process for the SESAME.

Once the review, assessment and inspection activities for the license application are fulfilled, the license for permanent operation will be granted, which will help to further scientific cooperation in the region.

The EU Delegation in Jordan, complemented the overall EU support to SESAME by providing a 7 Megawatt solar system for electricity supply to the SESAME facilities under the EU support programme to green energy in Jordan. The facility that was inaugurated in February 2019, sets SESAME as the first synchrotron in the region powered by solar energy, the statement pointed out.

Since the start of the project in 2017, numerous support activities were conducted in Jordan by about 50 senior experts from the EU. The support continued through online tools under the adverse conditions posed by the Corona pandemic in 2020. Through workshops, training courses and on-site support visits, EMRC and JAEC staff were trained and supported in their daily work, the statement said.

Under the project, the legal basis on nuclear and radiation safety in Jordan was improved, while the first national report for the Joint Convention on the safety of spent fuel management and radioactive waste management was compiled by the Jordanian institutions, assisted by the European experts, it said.

JAEC and the Consortium further developed the radioactive waste management strategy for Jordan and the Action Plan for its implementation, and defined a way to cope with the radioactive waste stored on the Sewaqa site, the statement said.

The project was implemented through a contract with a Consortium comprising ENCO of Austria, the Hungarian Atomic Energy Agency (HAEA), NRG of the Netherlands and TUV NORD EnSys GmbH & Co KG of Germany.

The "successful" completion of the project is the result of cooperation between the partners in Jordan and the Consortium. In particular, this was realized owing to the motivation of the beneficiaries and end-users and their willingness to enhance their capacities and capabilities in the fields of radiation protection in all areas of the utilization of ionising radiation, and of the radioactive waste management, it stated.