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The Government, through the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, recently concluded the Technical Meeting of the RCA Regulators Forum on 7 August 2008, capping a three-day session which saw the Philippines, in the person of Ms. Eulinia M. Valdezco, PNRI Regulatory Chief, chairing the fifteen-country gathering. (Malaysia and China, which would have completed the 17 Member States of the RCA, were not able to send their delegates).

The Forum is an outcome of a 2007 meeting held in Vienna, Austria which established a Regional Forum of Regulators as part of efforts to maintain a robust regulatory infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region, provide an environment of mutual support to radiation protection initiatives, and ensure the viability of a network of authorities exchanging relevant information and experiences.

The Philippines, as Chair of the Regulators Forum, joins Australia, India, Malaysia and Vietnam as part of the Steering Committee that is tasked to facilitate the active exchange of communication among the Forum’s members, ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the project’s activities, review its accomplishments and formulate recommendations to guide the project’s future direction.

This year’s Meeting, hosted by the Philippines, gave the opportunity to identify regional concerns and potential solutions in a number of priority areas of regulatory infrastructure (including public exposure control), occupational exposure control, medical exposure control, and radiological emergency preparedness and response.

A two-year action plan was also developed, which sets sights on the review of the project’s progress prior to the Forum’s next meeting in 2010, enhancement of the utilization of the Radiation Safety Regulators Network or the RaSaRen, and the establishment of a self-funding mechanism for the activities of the Forum.

Prior to the Technical Meeting of the Regulators Forum, tow events were also hosted by the Philippines under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy (IAEA). These were the Regional Training Course on Strategy and Methodologies for the Development of Low and Intermediate Level Waste Disposal Facilities held in June, and the Training Course on the Establishment of Limitations and Controls on Effluent Discharges and Associated Regulatory Review & Control held on the last week of July.

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Fueled by the desire to Outreach, Outthink, and Outdo, PNRI's Nuclear Regulations, Licensing and Safeguards Division (NRLSD) is conducting this year a Nuclear Safety Caravan that has so far held four provincial sorties since it was launched in March.

The caravan is a public information and education campaign that seeks to promote the open exchange of safety and security information among various stakeholders who are involved in the peaceful use of radioactive materials in the Philippines.

The campaign has brought the NRLSD staff, led by its Chief, Ms. Eulinia Valdezco, to venues such as Iloilo, Cebu, Baguio and Laguna for stakeholder interaction focusing on newly-published CPRs (Code of PNRI Regulations), criteria and other regulatory guidance documents. Bataan, Pampanga, Davao will see the next provincial round of the caravan.

Apart from the awareness seminar, demonstration on the use of modern detectors and lectures to teachers and students are also being conducted by the NRLSD team.

The aim to OUTREACH means seeking to extend the coverage of regulatory services to areas outside of Metro Manila; the aim to OUTTHINK is to further gain competence in the conduct of such information campaigns; and the aim to OUTDO spells out the goal to surpass performance in terms of strategies in the dissemination of information to licensees and other stakeholders.

The caravan is made possible by the Department of Science and Technology Grants-in-Aid (DOST-GIA) Programme and was conceptualized as a strategic tool for the efficient and effective dissemination of technical knowledge pertaining to the various Code of PNRI Regulations to further enhance the effective implementation of the National Regulatory Control Program for radioactive material use and applications.

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One won an international award; one will lend expertise to a training/meeting abroad; another recently served as instructor for another country’s national event.

These are how three of PNRI’s staff, in the persons of Mr. Chitho Feliciano, Ms. Soledad Castañeda, and Ms. Ma. Teresa Salabit, are contributing to put the Philippines’ best foot forward in the nuclear technology arena.

The work of Mr. Feliciano, who is one of the youngest hires of the Institute, bested more than 200 other research studies in the just-concluded “6th International conference on Isotopes” held in Seoul, Korea, to win the Outstanding Research Award on the Application of Isotope for Life Science Research for his work on Antiproliferative and Radiosensitizing Activity of Grape Seed Extract on human Promyelocytic leukemia Cells”

The paper, which he co-authored with two researchers from the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, suggest that grape seed extract is able to effectively inhibit the proliferation of HL-60 (leukemia) cells and has a great potential as a natural radiosensitizing agent.

At the same Conference, Mr. Feliciano was also invited to serve as Chair of the Technical Session on Food Biotechnology and Mutation Breeding.

On the other hand, ms. Soledad Castañeda has been tapped by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to assist in the Training Meeting/Workshop on Isotopic age Determination Techniqueswhich it is organizing on the second week of June at the Argone national Laboratory in Illinois, USA.

Owing to her involvement as project leader in various endeavors in isotope hydrology, Ms. Castañeda has been invited to assist in providing training on the use of tritium-helium dating techniques for groundwater assessment.

The Institute’s regulatory group is also pitching in its own share. Ms. Salabit of the Safeguards Unit has just represented the country in the National Training on Radiation Detection Equipment for Front Line Officers that was conducted in Indonesia last week.

Ms. Salabit was invited by the IAEA to be part of the team that was responsible for the overall delivery of the said Training Course in Jakarta assisting, in particular, with the scheduled practical exercises and providing training lectures as necessary. This is her second such sojourn, having successfully contributed to a similar undertaking in Vietnam a couple of months ago.

All the above had afforded PNRI the opportunity to share its expertise abroad and to highlight Philippine talent in the international nuclear community.

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The Head of PNRI's Nuclear Regulations, Licensing and Safeguards Division, Ms. Eulinia M. Valdezco, added another feather to her cap as she successfully concluded her participation in France's Ecole Internationale de Droit Nucleaire (or the International School of Nuclear Law) which sent official information this month of her outstanding grades in the school's examinations.

After hurdling the course's case studies and online tests, Ms. Valdezco also ably defended her dissertation on “Analysis and Discussion of the Concepts of State Responsibility or State Liability in the Context of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency with Transboundary Effects”. Amid lawyers, legal advisers, counsels and other students, she now therefore finds herself one of the school's privileged alumni. Her Diplôme d'Université en Droit Nucléaire International (Diploma in International Nuclear Law) will be issued by the University of Montpellier in France.

The Nuclear Law School, which was established through the cooperation between the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the University of Montpellier, is organized annually with the aim of acquainting participants with all essential aspects of nuclear law, such as radiological protection, nuclear safety, radioactive waste management, transport of nuclear materials, physical protection, non-proliferation, regulation of trade and nuclear third party liability and insurance.

The School's 2008 session, which begins in August, is now open for admission. Financial support may be sought from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for those intending to join the nuclear law programme.