UAE, France strengthen nuclear safety cooperation

The UAE and France are strengthening cooperation in nuclear safety and radiation protection.

The two sides are also working closely on enhancing emergency preparedness and response, in addition to building staff capabilities.

The UAE's Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) and the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) have renewed an agreement to continue their collaboration.

FANR, Khalifa University and IRSN also signed an agreement on research and development in the nuclear sector to study the movements of radionuclides in the environment.

This came during an IRSN delegation's visit to the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant to review the latest developments.

The delegation led by IRSN’s Director-General Jean-Christophe Niel also visited the headquarters of FANR, where they toured the Emergency Operations Centre and learnt about smart technologies in licensing and inspection.

The cooperation with IRSN started in 2013 to support FANR in developing the regulatory framework to oversee the nuclear and radiological sectors in the UAE.

The support rendered by IRSN included providing nuclear safety assessment during the initial stage of building the UAE’s nuclear power plant.

Moreover, FANR-IRSN’s cooperation was further expanded between 2013-2016 to cover radioactive monitoring and building national capabilities to monitor the radiation level in the UAE environment.

Currently, FANR has 18 environmental monitoring stations across the UAE that work around the clock to ensure a safe level in the local environment.

"The UAE and France cooperation builds a strong scientific and research foundation that enables FANR to ensure the safety of the public and the environment. IRSN has been a key partner to FANR in which we have been closely working on various aspects such as environmental monitoring, emergency preparedness and response as well as building capacity and others," said Christer Viktorsson, Director-General of FANR.

FANR received @IRSNFrance delegation to discuss cooperation in nuclear safety, radiation protection, emergency preparedness, others. FANR also signed agreements with @IRSNFrance & @KhalifaUni on R&D aspects.https://t.co/EJeSRoYcOv pic.twitter.com/G5D9yFwnpA

— FANR UAE (@FANRUAE) March 7, 2022