5th FNCA Meeting

Report of the Fifth FNCA Senior Officials Meeting

1. The Fifth Senior Officials Meeting (5th SOM) was held on November 30, 2004 with the participation of 20 senior officials from 9 FNCA countries. Major agenda items were:
     (1) Report on the Fifth FNCA Coordinators Meeting (5th CM) and Progress Report on FNCA Activities
     (2) Report on the First Meeting of the Panel on "Role of Nuclear Energy for Sustainable Development in Asia"
     (3) Consultation on Round Table Discussion of Ministerial Level Meeting (MM)
   
   
2. For agenda item (1), the conclusions and recommendations of the Fifth CM, and the highlights of FNCA activities in 2004 and future plans, were reported by Dr. Machi, the FNCA Coordinator of Japan. Remarkable progress of projects was commended by the meeting.
     2-1. In the field of research reactor application, it was noted that the first demonstration plant of automatic loading of Mo-99 adsorbed PZC has been installed and operated successfully in BATAN, Indonesia, in 2004. The capacity of the plant is to produce Mo-99 for diagnosis of 80 patients per day. The member countries were encouraged to install similar plants to meet hospital demands. Application of neutron activation analysis for monitoring of air pollutant has been carried out and comparison data were obtained.
     2-2. In the field of agriculture, development of drought tolerant mutant varieties of soybean, sorghum, and insect resistant orchid are being implemented through exchange of mutant seeds between participating countries. For the project on Bio-fertilizer production, field demonstration in member countries are desirable for extension of biofertilizer to farmers.
     2-3. In the field of health care, radiotherapy of uterine cervix cancer is being studied in combination with chemo-therapy to improve efficiency since 2004. The new project on Positron Emission Tomography (PET) initiated by Malaysia will have the first meeting in 2005 to formulate detailed work plan.
     2-4. For the project on "Public Information for Nuclear Energy", a workshop on nuclear communicators training was held in Bangkok in 2004. For Regional Speakers Bureau (RSB), member countries are encouraged to invite speakers for national PI conference.
     2-5. For the management of the technologically-enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM), expert missions visited the relevant sites in Australia, Malaysia, Viet Nam, China, and Thailand recommending some points for improvement.
     2-6. In the field of nuclear safety, the project on "Safety Culture of Research Reactor", a peer review activity with the Serpong reactor of BATAN was suspended in 2004. Future plan may be discussed in 2005.
     2-7. For the project on "Electron Accelerator Application", the demonstration of flue gas irradiation for environmental protection was conducted in China. Specific market-driven applications will be studied in 2005.
   
   
3. The FNCA Coordinator of Japan stressed the importance of evaluation of ongoing projects. The outcome of the evaluation of some projects will be reported to the Sixth CM in March 2005 for in-depth discussion with a view of further enhancing FNCA activities.
   
   
4. For agenda item (2), the report on the First Meeting of the Panel on "Sustainable Development and Nuclear Energy in Asia" by Mr. Todani was highly appreciated, and the plan for the Second Meeting was also supported by the Meeting.
   
   
5. For agenda item (3), preliminary presentations and exchange of views on the two specific topics, namely "Regional Cooperation of Human Resource Development for Nuclear Science and Technology" and "Policy and Program of FNCA in the Future", for the Ministerial Level Round Table Discussion on December 1 were made. The Meeting took note following major points:
     a) While all delegates confirmed their continued support for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, it was decided that non-proliferation was not a necessary topic for the Ministerial Level discussion.
     b) The Meeting agreed that the nuclear security and safety are of great importance in nuclear applications.
     c) The Meeting supported the proposals from Viet Nam to set up a regional network for human resource development (HRD) using FNCA framework. A senior level policy maker meeting should be organized to formulate programs on this matter.
     d) As for the HRD cooperation, linkage with other activities like RCA/IAEA and Asian Network for Education in Nuclear Technology (ANENT) was encouraged for enhancement. A new concept of sandwich program and registration of lectures were also proposed.
     e) Some delegations also stressed the critical role of media in supporting nuclear energy, and hoped to strengthen the international cooperation to make more influence on media to give objective and balanced information about nuclear energy application.
   
   
6. It was reconfirmed that the Seventh FNCA Meeting would be held in Malaysia, and agreed that the Philippines would host the Ninth FNCA Meeting in 2008.