House Committee on Appropriations Approves Comprehensive Nuclear Law
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Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato De La Peña and Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) Director Dr. Carlo Arcilla (top photo, middle and left, respectively) during the meeting of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations (bottom photo).
House Committee on Appropriations Approves Comprehensive Nuclear Law
Taking the key piece of legislation for nuclear regulations one step closer to enactment, the bill for the Comprehensive Nuclear Law was recently approved before the House Committee on Appropriations.
The bill hurdled through the appropriations committee at the House of Representatives during its meeting on August 28, 2018.
The bill, entitled “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Nuclear Regulatory Framework, Creating for the Purpose, the Philippine Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Appropriating Funds Therefor”, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Nuclear Regulation Act, pushes for the creation of a unified independent regulatory body consistent with international standards for the regulation of all practices and facilities involving sources of ionizing radiation, including nuclear and other radioactive materials, facilities and radiation generating equipment.
Its current incarnation in the House of Representatives was previously consolidated from several other bills into a substitute bill in November 2017, with former President and current House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as one of its sponsors.
In the Senate, a counterpart bill for the nuclear law is currently filed by Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
DOST Secretary Fortunato De La Peña and PNRI Director Dr. Carlo Arcilla were present during the committee meeting along with other officials and staff from DOST and PNRI.
Currently, the Philippines has two regulatory bodies dealing with ionizing radiation: the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) which regulates nuclear and radioactive materials, and the Center for Device Regulation, Radiation Health and Research (CDRRHR) under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Department of Health (DOH), which regulates x-rays and devices producing electrically-generated radiation.
Faced with Growing Demand for Services, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute to Upgrade Irradiation Facility
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From the International Atomic Energy Agency
Demand is booming for services of the Philippines only gamma irradiator. Located at the Philippines Nuclear Research Institute in Quezon City, the irradiator is mostly used for microbiological decontamination of spices, herbs and dried vegetables and for the sterilization of medical devices and packaging materials. Its ongoing upgrade and capacity enlargement are supported by the IAEA. (Photo: M. Gaspar/IAEA)
Faced with Growing Demand for Services, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute to Upgrade Irradiation Facility
Miklos Gaspar, IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication
Quezon City, Philippines – Much of the Philippines’ spice and herbal products industry relies on the country’s only gamma irradiator for microbiological decontamination, but the facility at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) can no longer cope with the increased demand. PNRI is working to upgrade the facility, with the help of the IAEA, and is lending support to the private sector and the government’s National Development Company to establish a commercial facility in the near future.
PNRI Rolls Out nSTEp+ for K-12 Teachers and Students in the Regions
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Science teachers, Supervisors and Campus Directors from various regions representing the Department of Education and the Philippine Science High School System met with DOST-PNRI officials during the roll out of the Nuclear Science and Technology Education Program (NSTEP) in selected pilot schools in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao for K-12 students on August 15-17, 2018. The NSTEP aims to support, strengthen and sustain nuclear science and technology education in the Philippines
PNRI Rolls Out nSTEp+ for K-12 Teachers and Students in the Regions
Expanding the reach of nuclear science and technology to high school classrooms in various provinces, the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI) has recently rolled out its Nuclear Science and Technology Education Program (nSTEp+) to its regional counterparts from the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) System.
During the nSTEp+ Forum from August 15-17, 2018, participating science teachers, supervisors and campus directors from DepEd and PSHS agreed to become part of the vibrant network of science educators who will promote the peaceful uses and applications of nuclear science and technology through the implementation of various curricular and extra curricular activities incorporating nuclear and radiation concepts in various subjects.
PSHS is already set to include nuclear science as an elective subject for their Grade 10 students as well as in their existing student activities like science and research fairs, science clubs, and a column in their school paper.
Meanwhile, DepEd will begin conducting awareness campaigns about the program and extracurricular activities while waiting for the guidelines for the integration of nuclear science concepts in their classes. The integration was drawn from the Memorandum of Understanding between DepEd and PNRI signed last February 2018.
The coverage of the nSTEp+ includes selected areas and schools in the Philippines, namely Region I (Ilocos), Region III (Central Luzon), Region 4-A (CALABARZON), Region VI (Central Visayas), Region VII (Western Visayas), Region X (North Mindanao), Region XI (Davao), Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN) and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
nSTEp+ draws from the rich experience gained from technical cooperation projects with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) starting with its pilot implementation in the Philippines since 2015. Through an inter-agency partnership between PNRI, DepEd, PSHS and the DOST-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI), the projects involved the successful use of the IAEA-developed compendium of resources in teaching nuclear and radiation concepts in an outreach program for secondary schools in Asia and the Pacific.
Through this continuing IAEA projects, teachers and supervisors from DepEd and PSHS were sent abroad to train and observe activities in secondary schools from other countries as they integrate nuclear science in their respective curriculums. The trainees shared their experiences and demonstrated some of the classroom activities they learned from the fellowship during the nSTEp+ forum. These activities include the cloud chamber experiments, radiation monitoring with survey meters and interactive lessons on radiation safety.
At the end of the forum, the participants had the opportunity to interact with researchers and scientists of PNRI and other nuclear and radiation facilities, namely the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the medical cyclotron center at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute and the radiopharmaceutical lab of Assurance Controls Technologies Co. Inc.
Through an inter-agency partnership between PNRI, DepEd, PSHS and SEI, nSTEp+ aims to expand its reach to all the regions in the Philippines, inspiring the Filipino youth through nuclear science and technology.
Water in Philippine City Safe to Drink, Study Using Isotopic Techniques Finds
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From the International Atomic Energy Agency
Isotopic techniques have confirmed that the city water in the water tanks behind these boys, and on many streets in new neighbourhoods in Tacloban, is safe to drink. (Photo: M. Gaspar/IAEA)
Water in Philippine City Safe to Drink, Study Using Isotopic Techniques Finds
Miklos Gaspar, IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication
Tacloban, Philippines – The drinking water of this city of 250,000 is safe, is getting regularly recharged and is not under threat by the sea. Sounds simple? This conclusion took years of research and the analysis of thousands of water samples to establish, and required the use of isotopic techniques by researchers from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), with support from the IAEA and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
When a storm surge caused by Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest tropical storm in the world, devastated much of this city and killed thousands in 2013, local authorities faced the daunting task of reconstruction, including moving people away from the most flood-prone areas. But could the waves that swept away buildings and people have reached the city’s water reservoir?
There was a danger that the storm surge could have contaminated the aquifer – an underground layer of permeable rock containing groundwater – the city’s major water source. Salt and other flood-borne contaminants, including organic matter from animal and human corpses, could have rendered the water unfit for consumption. PRNI turned to the IAEA technical cooperation programme for assistance in the use of isotopic techniques to characterize the aquifer.
Read more at https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/water-in-philippine-city-safe-to-drink-study-using-isotopic-techniques-finds
