iaea bulletin

IAEABULLETIN

.CONTENTS

Front Cover: Children embracing in the countryside teach usanew about how closely our health is bound to the world aroundus. Too many people suffer, and often die prematurely, fromillnesses linked to industrial pollution, poor nutrition, contaminatedfood and water, and other unsafe environmental conditions.In important ways, the IAEA is supporting global efforts promotingbetter health for all. Targeted research and technology-transferprojects are helping physicians and medical researchers usehealth-related nuclear technologies in their fight against some ofthe world's most serious diseases and health disorders.

Facing page: A family in Pangasinan, Philippines. This photo— entitled "Shining Through" by Rodolfo M. de Leon in the Philip-pines — and the front cover photo of children in Viet Nam —entitled "Eyes and Smile" by Tuong Linn in Viet Nam and, in ourcover design, set against the international logos for health and thefamily — were among the award-winners in the World PhotoContest "The Family". The contest was organized by the UnitedNations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNES-CO) and the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU).More information about the contest and a selection of other prize-winning photos appear on pages 16 and 17.

Features

Special reports

Topical reports

Nuclear applications for health: Keeping pace with progressby Alfredo Cuaron I 2

Health and the environment: Examining some interconnectionsby Gopinathan Nair, Robert M. Parr, and John Caste lino I 10

Photo collage: Health. Environment, and Family / 16

Human health and nutrition: How isotopes are helping to overcome "hidden hunger"by Robert M. Parr and Carla R. Fjeld I 18

Health care and research: Clinical trials in cancer radiotherapyby Jordanka Mircheva I 28

Radiation dosimetry in health care: Expanding the reach of global networksbv Peter Nette and Hans Svensson I 33

Biological effects of low doses of ionizing radiation: A fuller pictureby Abel J.Gonzalez I 37

Technology transfer for safe management of radioactive waste: Tailoring the approachesby Donald Saire, Curt Bergman, Conduce Chan, and Vladimir Tsvplenkov / 46

Experts without frontiers: Building expertise for the transfer of nuclear technologiesby Robert Lauerbach and Alicia Reynaud I 51

Fellowships in nuclear science and technology: Applying the knowledgeb\ John P. Colton I 55

Departments International Newsbriefs/Datafile / 60

Posts announced by the IAEA / 72

Keep abreast with IAEA publications / 73

Databases on line / 74

IAEA conferences and seminars/Co-ordinated research programmes / 76

ISSN 0020-6067 IAEA BULLETIN, VOL. 36, NO. 4 (DECEMBER 1994)

YOUSSIFM

Note

Correct Title: Verification of nuclear non-proliferation: Securing the future pages 2-5

YOUSSIFM

Note

Correct Title: Strengthening the international safeguards system pages 6-10

YOUSSIFM

Note

Topic Missing: Technological developments and safeguards instrumentation: Responding to new challenges pages 11-15

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Verification of nuclear non-proliferation:Securing the future

International efforts to make the nuclear non-proliferation regimemore effective show signs of bearing fruit

by Dr Hans Blix Mlomentous changes over the past severalyears are first beginning to colour the course ofinternational relations. Frequently presented inimages and symbols — the fall of the BerlinWall, nuclear inspection teams at desert sites inIraq, national flags raised in capitals of a newlyformed commonwealth — the events have ush-ered in unprecedented opportunities, and criticalnew challenges, for the international com-munity. What implications do they hold forworld peace and security, particularly within thecontext of nuclear developments?

What we have seen so far is generally hope-ful. In my view, it augurs well for securing evengreater adherence to the nuclear non-prolifera-tion regime that States collectively have builtover the past 30 years to stop the spread ofnuclear weapons. Underpinned by an intricateweb of legal instruments, the regime includes theTreaty on the Non-Proliferation of NuclearWeapons (NPT), IAEA safeguards agreements,regional nuclear-weapon free zone treaties,nuclear disarmament measures, and nuclear ex-port restrictions. To varying degrees, we havewitnessed positive developments in each of theseareas in recent years.

The generally optimistic outlook, however,must be tempered because of some major im-pediments.

Among them are deeply rooted regional ten-sions in the Middle East and parts of Asia, andethnic division in regions of Europe. Secondly,there is the case of Iraq, whose extensiveclandestine nuclear programme raised seriousquestions about how close other countries mightcome to acquiring the materials and technologyto develop a nuclear weapon. Thirdly, the break-up of the Soviet Union has added some troublingdimensions to non-proliferation and verificationissues.

Dr Blix is Director General of the IAEA.

IAEA BULLETIN, 1/1992

There are signs that these, and other, difficultchallenges are leading to greater vigilance andresolve within the international community. Inmy view, the post-Cold War's more temperateglobal climate is favouring the cultivation ofsome new approaches that alongside traditionalones will serve to make the nuclear non-proliferation regime more effective.

Nuclear non-proliferation

Over the past 30 years, efforts toward pre-venting the proliferation of nuclear weapons tofurther countries have been rather successful, afact frequently overlooked. The number ofStates having overt nuclear-weapons program-mes has stayed at five. A few others are thoughtto have the capability of assembling nuclearweapons in a short time, if they do not alreadyhave them.

Historically less successful have been at-tempts to halt vertical proliferation — to reducethe number of nuclear weapons among the fivedeclared nuclear-weapon States. Of late, thesituation is changing. The United States andRussian Federation are moving to make verysubstantial cuts to their tremendous nuclearstockpiles, which no longer are menacingly tar-getted at each other. One can even hope that theprevailing climate will lead all nuclear-weaponStates to more deeply question the need for cost-ly nuclear tests they have conducted at the rate ofone every nine days since 1945.

Why have most States decided againstdeveloping nuclear weapons? The answers vary,and are tied to a number of disincentives andnational political considerations.

One practical disincentive is technological.Despite the very special case of Iraq, most de-veloping countries still are not at a technologicallevel where they could develop a nuclearweapon. The lesson of Iraq, however, is that

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more and more of them could attain that levelsoon. Moreover, the risk exists, e.g. in the wakeof the Soviet Union's dissolution, that a countrymight succeed in buying a nuclear weapon orweapons-grade material clandestinely.

Another disincentive is grounded in politicaland security considerations: A good number ofStates have found that they really would have nouse for nuclear weapons, or even that it would bemore dangerous to have them than to lack them.When countries like Sweden, Finland, Austria,and Switzerland adhered to the NPT, they mayhave come to just this conclusion.

In many cases, the lack of incentive for Statesto acquire nuclear weapons has been linked tothe nuclear umbrella held for them by allies, forexample in NATO or the Warsaw Pact. TheseStates were able to adhere, as non-nuclear-weapon States, to the NPT. When the NPT wasconcluded some 25 years ago, such adherencewas felt to be particularly important as regardsthe two World War II enemy powers.

Another disincentive to proliferation is re-lated to the rules of nuclear trade. Again, the caseof Iraq has proved instructive, and catalytic.Iraq's success in building a secret foreignprocurement network that skirted nuclear traderestrictions prompted States to take a closer lookat rules governing the export of sensitive nucleartechnology, material, and equipment. Existingrestrictions set by supplier countries impededIraq's efforts, but did not thwart them.

In light of the revelations, the UN SecurityCouncil, in a recent summit statement, has ex-plicitly endorsed the importance of export con-trols, and major nuclear suppliers have adopteda number of initiatives.

One area that suppliers have examined con-cerns "dual-use" nuclear-related technologies,which can be items ranging from chemicals toindustrial machine tools having both civilian andmilitary applications. At a meeting in Warsaw inearly April 1992, the 27 countries adhering to theexisting Nuclear Suppliers Guidelines adopted acomprehensive arrangement that they believewill fill a significant gap in controlling the exportof these items. They further reached agreementon a common policy of requiring the applicationof comprehensive IAEA safeguards to all currentand future nuclear activities as a necessary con-dition for all significant new nuclear exports tonon-nuclear-weapon States.

The question of export restrictions as suchhas not been pursued in the IAEA. But it hasexamined the other side of the coin, namelyassurances of supply for peaceful purposes andtheir linkage to acceptance of effective safe-guards. Given the now more apparent relevanceof such linkage, it is conceivable that multilateral

discussions could bear some fruit in reaching agenuine understanding on this difficult question.

The NPT offers incentives for adherence bypromising easier transfer of peaceful nucleartechnology to States willing to renounce nuclearweapons. For most developing countries, whichhave decided they have neither the need for, northe means of, developing such weapons, the ac-tual "cost" of adherence has been negligible. Atthe same time, it must be admitted that the "car-rots" — in the form of nuclear technology trans-fer — have been moderately sized. For moretechnologically advanced countries, on the otherhand, access to nuclear technology and fuel-cycle services such as enrichment has been ofsignificant benefit.

Regional approaches and initiatives

The desire to broaden, and in some casescustomize, the non-proliferation regime is re-flected in the interest countries are showing inregional approaches.

In Southeast Asia and Latin America, theRarotonga and Tlatelolco Treaties establishnuclear-weapon-free zones incorporating re-quirements for parties to accept comprehensiveIAEA safeguards. In southern Africa, active dis-cussions on such a zone now have started,buoyed by the recent adherence to the NPT ofMozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia,and Zimbabwe.

A good example of mutual openness andconfidence-building has been set by Argentinaand Brazil. Their acceptance in late 1991 ofcomprehensive IAEA safeguards to supplementtheir own bilateral joint system of nuclear con-trols is likely to lead soon to their full adherenceto the 25-year-old Tlatelolco Treaty. Additional-ly, Cuba has declared it is actively consideringsigning the Treaty. This would be another majorstep towards bringing it into effect.

A few countries, however, still refrain fromentering into legally binding non-proliferationcommitments, basically for reasons relating totheir security considerations. In some of thesecases, special tailor-made solutions may beneeded. Peace talks now under way on the Mid-dle East offer a forum for the discussion of asecurity and non-proliferation regime in thatregion. All the States in the region are on recordas supporting a nuclear-weapon-free zone.

In the Middle East, such a zone probably willrequire verification measures going consider-ably beyond those now practiced under NPT-type safeguards. Just what kind of safeguardsverification would be necessary in the MiddleEast is one question I am now exploring with


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governments in the region. Certainly, some formof IAEA safeguards could be part of the verifica-tion measures.

During my talks with them in early 1992,political leaders in two of the region's NPTcountries, Libya and Syria, expressed assurancesof their governments' willingness to co-operatefully with the IAEA in implementing safeguardson nuclear activities in their countries. Libyanofficials stated their readiness to invite the IAEAto send inspectors to any site it might wish tovisit. Syria, which informed me during the talksof its readiness to sign an NPT-safeguards agree-ment with the IAEA, did so in February 1992.

In the Far East region, the willingness of theRepublic of Korea and the Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea (DPRK) to negotiate a specialarrangement calling for mutual nuclear inspec-tions must be seen as a positive sign. TheDPRK's ratification in April 1992 of the com-prehensive safeguards agreement it signed withthe IAEA is another welcome step.

Verifying nuclear non-proliferation

Measures to verify the commitments of Statesto nuclear non-proliferation historically have beenproducts of their times, and the influence of recentglobal developments is no exception.

At the end of the 1960s, the IAEA's verifica-tion system was designed to fit the area where itwas felt that reassurance was most needed —namely industrially advanced States which wereor would be capable of making nuclear weapons.One effect of this, however, is that today thelarger part of verification efforts is aimed atWestern Europe, Canada, and Japan, where thereis a large concentration of fissionable nuclearmaterial. While verification here is certainlydesired, the political stability of the countriesthere gives little ground for concern.

Today, other areas are prompting internationalinterest in thorough verification. Consequently,the IAEA is trying to apply its limited resourcesaccordingly, with the aim of strengthening theoverall verification system. Some steps alreadyhave been taken, and other measures are beingconsidered by the IAEA Board of Governors.

The Iraq case — the only known instance ofa clandestine violation of comprehensive safe-guards — naturally and necessarily has led to anextensive and searching debate because of itsdimensions. Its most important reminder is thatthe verification system must be geared to detectundeclared nuclear material, and to do so notonly in declared installations, but also in un-declared facilities. Iraq's multibillion dollarprogramme, of course, was not declared. In fact,

its scope does not appear to have been knowneven to foreign intelligence organizations.

While it is not certain that inspection systemscan be devised to guarantee detection of nuclearprogrammes developed indigenously and secret-ly in closed societies such as Iraq's, it is clear thatseveral measures can be taken to considerablyreduce the risk that they will escape detection.When the State itself refrains from declaring andidentifying its secret activity, the crucial point isto obtain credible information about it and whereit is located. Inspectors cannot and will not beallowed to roam the territory of inspected Statesin a blind search for possible hidden nuclearmaterial and facilities. Information must be ob-tained through other means.

Measures being taken at the IAEA includeadditional reporting to the IAEA by States onnuclear-relevant exports and other matters. TheBoard of Governors already has reaffirmed theIAEA's right to request inspections to identifyundeclared nuclear material where there are rea-sons to believe that such material exists andexplanations have not clarified the matter.Should information uncover a nuclear program-me in a given State that should have beendeclared, but was not, the State may well refusean inspection. Such a case would most likelypass through the IAEA Board of Governors andbe transmitted to the United Nations SecurityCouncil for appropriate action.

Through their greater capacity for detection,safeguards provided with sharper teeth shouldhave more credibility and a greater deterrenteffect. Not only is this needed after the shock ofIraq, it is also needed in a world where we areseeking drastic disarmament and a more univer-sal non-proliferation regime. A world seeking tofree itself from nuclear weapons needs to guarditself well against surprises.

Verification and disarmament

Whereas the IAEA to date has not beenentrusted with any role in the disarmament area,it could serve a valuable verification functionunder certain circumstances.

No nuclear weapons have been dismantled yet,and we do not know what plans nuclear-weaponStates are contemplating for the verification of themore far-reaching measures to reduce nuclear ar-senals as now expected. It may well depend uponthe nature of the disarmament measures.

Verification of the actual dismantling ofnuclear weapons will take place in the military-industrial sector, and can only be entrusted topersonnel from nuclear-weapon States. How-ever, if it were to be agreed that at some stage


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m

(Clockwise from top left) VIEWS OF THE HUMAN SKULL:An anterior X-ray view of a normal individual showing ingreat detail the anatomy of bone structures in the skull.Shown next is the planar, anterior view of the samesubject obtained from nuclear medical imaging. It showsphysicians that the normal magnitude of phosphonatemetabolism is different in each region of the skull, beingmore active in cranial and facial bones. VIEWS OF THEHUMAN BRAIN: A single photon emission tomography[SPET] of the brain obtained using technetium-99m-HMPAO. The magnitude of concentration of theradiotracer in brain tissue is proportional to regionalblood flow. The 12 tomographic slices (lower half) show asevere decrease of blood flow in the left brain regions. Inthe upper half of the photo, the reconstruction ofthree-dimensional images from the series of tomographicslices clearly defines the infarcted region. The bottomphoto is the result of positron emission tomography[PET] of the brain. The photo's upper half shows imagesobtained in a normal subject. The lower half showsimages of decreased functional neuro-receptors in thebasal ganglia in a patient with Parkinson's disease.


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Strengthening the internationalsafeguards system

An overview of proposals to further improve the effectivenessand efficiency of the IAEA's safeguards system

byJ. Jennekens,R. Parsick and

A. vonBaeckmann

I he safeguards programme of the IAEA con-tinues to be influenced by a wide range of inter-national developments. During the past year,IAEA Member States collectively reaffirmedtheir commitment to the Agency's objective ofseeking to accelerate and to enlarge the contribu-tion of atomic energy to peace, health, andprosperity throughout the world while ensuringthat such a contribution is not used in any way tofurther any military purpose.

This commitment was reinforced through ac-tions by individual Member States. The decisionby the Governments of Argentina and Brazil todevelop a bilateral safeguards agreement underwhich the two countries would carry outsafeguards inspections jointly and to implementa safeguards arrangement with the IAEA underwhich all of the peaceful nuclear activities of thetwo countries would become subject to IAEAsafeguards has been widely acclaimed. Similarlythe decision by South Africa to ratify the Treatyon the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons(NPT) and its signature of a comprehensivesafeguards agreement with the IAEA in recordshort time were important steps in the furtherextension of international safeguards. Morerecently the adherence of China to the NPT isconsidered to be a further important internationalcontribution to the non-proliferation regime.

These and other international developmentswill undoubtedly continue to influence theevolut ionary improvements in the IAEAsafeguards programme, as they have since itsinauguration three decades ago.

The basic principles on which IAEAsafeguards have been developed during the pastthree decades have remained essentially un-

Mr Jennekens is Deputy Director General of the IAEA Depart-ment of Safeguards, and Mr Parsick is Director of theDepartment's Division of Concepts and Planning. Mr vonBaeckmann is an advisor to the Deputy Director General forSafeguards.

changed. However, the recent demands by Mem-ber States for improvements in effectiveness andefficiency have emphasized the greater urgencywhich they now attach to the achievement offurther optimization of safeguards criteria andprocedures.

It is the Secretariat's view that the impressiveincreases in safeguards effectiveness and ef-ficiency that have been achieved during the pastdecade through Member State contributions,technological advances, and lessons learnedfrom experience justify optimism regarding fur-ther improvements of the safeguards system.Regardless of the precise direction in which ef-forts to improve the cost-effectiveness of Agen-cy safeguards proceed, it is clear that the con-tributions of Member States, and particularlythose which have established safeguards supportprogrammes, will be of primary importance.

Superimposed over the continuing interest ofMember States in the further optimization ofIAEA safeguards is the fact that the technicaleffectiveness of safeguards has come underclose scrutiny. This is a result of the revelationsfrom activities undertaken by the IAEA in Iraqpursuant to United Nations Security CouncilResolution 687.

Iraq's non-compliance with the provisions ofits safeguards agreement with the IAEA, and themagnitude of its undeclared nuclear-weapondevelopment programme, has forcefully under-lined the fact that the safeguards assurancespresently provided by the IAEA through nuclearmaterial accountancy verification activities atdeclared facilities alone are insufficient. Theymust be complemented and strengthened by ac-tivities providing equivalent assurances that un-declared nuclear material and nuclear facilitiesdo not exist in States which have entered intocomprehensive safeguards agreements with theIAEA. How these additional assurances can bedeveloped is under careful consideration by theIAEA and its Member States.


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In accordance with its statutory mandate, theIAEA Board of Governors has consistently as-signed high priority to the evolutionary develop-ment of the IAEA's safeguards system. This isevident from the Board's continuing efforts tomonitor and to evaluate the extent to which theSecretariat has achieved the IAEA's safeguardsobjectives. The Board's extensive considerationof annual reports on safeguards is but one ex-ample of the careful scrutiny applied tosafeguards activities.

During the past year, the Board devoted ap-preciable time to the consideration of variousproposals put forth by the Secretariat. Theseproposals and the status of the Board's currentconsideration of them are outlined in this article.

During its 24-26 February 1992 meetings,the Board deliberated upon proposals regarding:• the use of special inspections;• the early submission of information aboutplans to construct new nuclear facilities;• the reporting and verification of the produc-tion, export and import of nuclear material; andsimilarly,• the reporting and verification of the exportand import of equipment and materials speciallyintended for use in nuclear activities.

Special inspections

With respect to the matter of special inspec-tions, the Board reaffirmed the IAEA's right toundertake special inspections in States withcomprehensive safeguards agreements, whennecessary and appropriate, and to ensure that allnuclear materials in all peaceful nuclear ac-tivities are under safeguards. The legal basis forthe IAEA's right to conduct special inspectionsis set out in safeguards agreements concludedpursuant to documents INFCIRC/66 and 153.

Comprehensive safeguards agreements suchas those concluded pursuant to INFCIRC/153include an obligation for the State to acceptsafeguards on all source and special fissionablematerials in all peaceful nuclear activities withinits territory, under its jurisdiction or carried outunder its control anywhere. Under those agree-ments, the IAEA has the right and the obligationto ensure effective application of safeguards inconformity with the commitments undertaken bythe State in question. The agreements make nodistinction between declared and undeclaredmaterial. One of the IAEA's obligations is thusto ensure that all materials subject to safeguardsare in fact safeguarded.

It is not expected that special inspections willoccur very frequently but the fact that they areperformed will provide important additional

safeguards assurances. These additional assuran-ces may be the result of special inspections un-dertaken on the IAEA's initiative. States mightalso wish to take advantage of the special inspec-tion procedure and invite the Agency to conductsuch an inspection.

Provision of additional information

The Board further reaffirmed the IAEA'srights to obtain and to have access to additionalinformation and locations in accordance with theIAEA Statute and all comprehensive safeguardsagreements.

This action by the Board was taken in recog-nition of the fact that one important element ofany system established to detect the existence ofundeclared nuclear activities is information. If aState conceals some of its nuclear activities, theIAEA must have access to information indicat-ing this concealment and thereby establish abasis for pursuing its verification activities.More extensive use and evaluation of availableinformation may make apparent inconsistenciesbetween such information and the State'sdeclared nuclear activities.

There appears to exist a wide consensus thatsuch a process would also contribute to theIAEA's capability to detect the existence of un-declared nuclear activities much earlier thanthrough the present system based on nuclear ma-terial accountancy.

In implementing this additional capability,the Secretariat has the very responsible task ofcarefully evaluating all available informationand judging the follow-up actions to be taken.Anomalies and inconsistencies might prompt anumber of actions, including the authorization ofthe conduct of additional safeguards measuressuch as special inspections. One essential actionwould involve early consultation with the Stateconcerned and this alone might bring about anynecessary explanation or corrective measure.One additional advantage of the improved cap-ability of the IAEA to detect undeclared nuclearactivities would be that through its existence anypossible intent to enter into a nuclear-weapondevelopment programme might be deterred at anearlier stage.

During its February 1992 meetings, theBoard called on parties to comprehensivesafeguards agreements to provide preliminaryinformation on programmes for new nuclearfacilities and activities, as well as modificationsto existing facilities, as soon as the decision toconstruct, to authorize construction, or to modifya facility has been taken. This information wouldbe updated during project phases of definition,


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Health professionals inPeru are among those

receivingIAEA-supported

assistance in applyingnuclear medical

applications.

played by some developing countries in theprogress of nuclear medicine, which is the mostcomplex of the medical applications of nuclearenergy. The first National Institute of NuclearMedicine was founded in 1948 by the Universityof Sao Paulo. Brazil: complete validation of theradiotracer principle as a practical tool for medi-cal research was made during the 1950s in theAndean countries (Argentina. Bolivia, Chile,Ecuador. Peru) and in Mexico through pioneer-ing studies on endemic goitre: the first nationalsocieties of nuclear medicine to be founded afterthe one in the United States were in LatinAmerican countries in the early 1960s; the firstregional federation of societies of the specialtywas in Latin America, founded in 1965 and wascatalytic to the foundation of the World Federa-tion, in Mexico City, in 1970. Many of the pro-cedures in use in nuclear medicine were original-ly developed in these countries during the 1960sand early 1970s.

But this optimistic start was broken by thecoincidental appearance of the internationalfinancial crisis in the late 1970s and the unprece-dented technological advances achieved in in-dus t r ia l countries dur ing the 1980s. Thesedevelopments closed all doors for the progress ofnuclear medicine in developing countries. Thesecountries now urgently need to catch up with

I

progress and to narrow the technological gap.But commercial firms only produce state-of-the-art equipment — very expensive and sophisti-cated but unsuitable for the conditions in manydeveloping countries. These countries need to bevery careful in adapting new technologies totheir own needs and conditions instead of adopt-ing expensive, unsuitable technologies.

Nuclear techniques for human health do notdepend upon sophisticated nuclear infrastructurewithin the country. What is fundamental is areasonable medical in f ras t ruc ture . Nuclearmedicine is relevant but only as a support toother basic diagnostic modalities such as a clini-cal laboratory, routine radiology, and ultrasound.Similarly, radiotherapy could not be effective incuring cancer if it is not supported by a systemfor the early diagnosis of cancer or if there are nooncologists and chemotherapists available. Inthese cases, it could be used mostly to relievepain and some symptoms, but the patient willeventually die of cancer.

Evolving to meet the challenges

Over the past decade, the IAEA's program-mes in support of nuclear applications for humanhealth have evolved to address new realities. Themove is reflected in the organization structure, aswell as in more sharply focused projects. InAugust 1993, the Division of Life Sciences dis-appeared from the organizational chart of theIAEA. In its place emerged a new name, theDivision of Human Health, whose staff aregrouped into four sections — nuclear medicine:applied radiation biology and radiotherapy:dosimetry; and nutritional and health-related en-vironmental studies.

Why the change of title? The old title be-came inappropriate and misleading because itssub-programmes no longer related to animal andvegetal biology, areas covered under the former-Division of Life Sciences. These sub-program-mes have fallen fully within the scope of theJoint IAEA/FAO Division. Furthermore, thenew title would have the added advantage ofhelping potential counterparts — mostly frommedical institutes — to identify the Division'sobjectives with their own. This evolutionarychange better enables the IAEA to keep pacewith progress and to mold the IAEA's medium-term strategies concerning nuclear applicationsfor human health. These strategies includemechanisms for reaching most users of nuclearmedical instruments in developing countries.

Will the Division be in competition withWHO? Certainly not. WHO's priorities are insanitation and prevention of disease. This means

8 IAEA BULLETIN, 4/1994

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more easily said than accomplished. The expec-tation is that by carefully monitoring and analyz-ing all information, the risk that clandestine nu-clear activities would remain undetected wouldbe considerably reduced. A high degree of trans-parency in peaceful nuclear energy programmescould be achieved which would provide addi-tional confidence of the non-existence of non-peaceful nuclear activities in such States.

The cost-effectiveness of the early warningsystem needs to be evaluated. Certainly, the sys-tem will not be more reliable or credible than theavailable sources of information. The potentialcosts are difficult to predict, changes in nationalregulation and legislation might become neces-sary, and the introduction of additional interna-tional legal instruments (e.g., protocols) may benecessary. However, the proposed improve-ments would certainly enhance the effectivenessand credibility of safeguards, which justifies theadditional effort.

Reporting and verification of production,export, and import of nuclear material

Safeguards agreements provide only forreporting of the export and import of certainnuclear material. Expansion of the existing re-quirements for nuclear material reporting to allnuclear material in all peaceful activities wouldprovide assurance that such nuclear material asis not currently subject to reporting is used inaccordance with a State's basic undertakingsunder a safeguards agreement.

Thus, the Secretariat proposed that, regard-less of whether or not they fall within currentreporting requirements, all imports and exportsof nuclear material be reported, with the excep-tion of nuclear material in military activities andsome minor quantities in non-nuclear use.

Furthermore, the Secretariat also proposedthat the initial inventory of a State with a safe-guards agreement should include all nuclear ma-terial which is in peaceful nuclear and non-nuclear use, starting with ore concentrate andincluding material which has not reached a com-position and purity suitable for fuel fabricationor isotopic enrichment. Once included in theinventory, the material in non-nuclear use there-after could be exempted from safeguards, or thesafeguards on it could be terminated, in accord-ance with the provisions of the safeguards agree-ment.

In its preliminary consideration of these pro-posals, the IAEA Board of Governors noted thatalthough their acceptance would provide theIAEA with greater assurance regarding the quan-tities, use, and location of all nuclear material in

a State, a number of legal, technical, and eco-nomic factors required further study in order todetermine the practicability and the value of theadditional reporting. As a consequence, theBoard decided to continue its consideration ofthe proposals during its June 1992 meetings.

Reporting and verification of the exportand import of certain equipment andnon-nuclear material

Reporting by all States on the export andimport of certain equipment and non-nuclearmaterial would provide a greater measure ofopenness about nuclear activities. Hence, itwould contribute to confidence in the peacefuluse of such equipment and material, as well asassociated nuclear material.

The Secreatariat proposed to the IAEABoard that the IAEA establish a list of equipmentand non-nuclear material especially designed orprepared for the processing, use, or productionof special fissionable material that would be usedby all States in reporting the export and import ofsuch equipment and non-nuclear material. TheIAEA would consolidate and study these reportswith a view to checking that the equipment andmaterial are actually located and used as de-clared. The record of exports and imports wouldbe treated as "safeguards confidential" informa-tion to protect any commercially or industriallysensitive information which it might contain.

The Board of Governors gave only prelimi-nary consideration to the proposals regardingexport and import of certain equipment and non-nuclear material. It identified a number of factorswhich would prevent States from undertakingthe full range of reporting requirements includedin the Secretariat's proposals and similarly notedthat the related verification measures might notbe feasible or cost effective. As a consequence,the Board decided that it would continue its con-sideration of this subject during its June 1992meetings.

Accelerated development of safeguards

The year 1991 proved to be an exceptionalone for the IAEA's safeguards programme. Thiswas largely a result of the actions by the UnitedNations Security Council requesting the IAEA toundertake a number of responsibilities in Iraqpursuant to the provisions of Security CouncilResolutions 687,707, and 715.

However, months before these additionalresponsibilities were undertaken, the Board ofGovernors had requested the Secretariat to pur-


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sue a fundamental review of safeguards prin-ciples, criteria, and procedures in order to ensurethat the IAEA would be able to cope with theincreasing demands expected to be placed uponit during the 1990s. A number of safeguardsmatters were raised during the 1990 NPTReview Conference in Geneva and these mattersprompted a great deal of thought by the Sec-retariat and Member States. A greater awarenessof the problem posed by possible clandestinenuclear activities quickly led to proposals re-garding additional measures which might be in-troduced.

The IAEA safeguards system has evolvedvery significantly since the publication in 1961of its first Safeguards Document. However,events of 1991 made it clear that the evolution-ary development of safeguards approaches needsacceleration. Additional safeguards measuresnecessary to provide assurance that undeclarednuclear material and nuclear facilities do notexist in States which have entered into com-prehensive safeguards agreements must be intro-duced at an early date. Substantive progress hasbeen made in considering various additionalsafeguards measures. This progress is the resultof a co-ordinated effort involving MemberStates, international consultants, the StandingAdvisory Group on Safeguards Implementation(SAGSI), and the Secretariat.

Needless to say, such a wide-ranging review,extending to the whole spectrum of non-proliferation issues, may sometimes lead to theexpression of different views as to the desiredextent and rigour of the measures to be applied.However, the desire to reach an effective andworkable consensus is undoubtedly present in alldiscussions.

The reaffirmation by the Board of Governorsof the IAEA's right to undertake special inspec-tions in Member States with comprehensivesafeguards agreements and to ensure that allnuclear materials in peaceful nuclear activities inthe States are safeguarded was an important steptowards the desired strengthening of IAEAsafeguards. Similarly, the Board's decision tocall on parties to comprehensive safeguardsagreements to provide preliminary informationas early as possible on plans for the constructionof new nuclear facilities are an essential im-provement of the basis upon which the Sec-retariat initiates the many and varied activitiesforming the IAEA's safeguards system. Perhapsmore importantly, it is now widely recognizedthat the early submission of information to theIAEA on nuclear activities in Member States,and to the extent possible its public disclosure bythe State, will provide added assurance to all

Member States of the peaceful intent of suchprogrammes.

Although the Board of Governors was onlyable to give preliminary consideration to Sec-retariat proposals regarding the reporting of theexport and import of nuclear material and ofcertain equipment and non-nuclear materials es-pecially designed for use in nuclear activities, amomentum has been established which will en-able the Secretariat to continue to study theseproposals and to initiate additional studies onother possible safeguards measures which willcontribute to the desired strengthening of IAEAsafeguards.

The Secretariat will certainly continue to im-prove IAEA safeguards effectiveness and effi-ciency by improving its internal procedures andcriteria and by developing new ideas and con-cepts. We are confident that the ongoing stream-lining of IAEA safeguards and its increased rolein the non-proliferation regime will provide ad-ditional assurances that there are no undeclarednuclear activities that might be used for anuclear-weapon development programme.

Recent events have confirmed the effective-ness of the present safeguards system for de-clared materials and activities. It is worth men-tioning that, even in the case of Iraq, the systemwas effective enough to block the easiest route toweaponization, which would have been to divertthe highly enriched uranium that was undersafeguards at Tuwaitha.

However, these recent events also have con-firmed that this effectiveness of the safeguardssystem must be extended to all nuclear materialsand activities in order to detect, in a timely man-ner, the development of clandestine program-mes. This is the aim of the proposals for specialinspections, provision of design information,procurement reports, and other procedureswhich presently are being considered. Ideally,this should proceed from a new spirit of open-ness and transparency in the exchanges of infor-mation between the IAEA and its MemberStates.

Safeguards are merely the institutionalizedand regulated form of transparency. This institu-tion and its associated regulations must be main-tained, developed, and continuously renderedmore effective and efficient. As a result of moreopenness and transparency, and additional infor-mation and access rights, IAEA safeguards willincrease its contribution to world peace andstability and will permit more confidence in thepeaceful character of all safeguarded nuclear ac-tivities.


FEATURES

Technological developments andsafeguards instrumentation:

Responding to new challengesFrom a variety of directions, advances in technology are

influencing safeguards operations and support

Entering the 1990s, technological tools thatwere in the research and development stage notso long ago are changing the way inspectors areable to verify nuclear materials at many facilitiesaround the world.

Many new instruments — ranging from ad-vanced video monitoring systems to miniaturedetectors and analysers — already are in place.In some cases, they have been custom-made forspecific safeguards tasks, or for placement inlocations, such as underwater storage pools forspent reactor fuel, where inspectors cannot go.

Standing behind the development of many ofthese new safeguards instruments are a numberof factors. They include:

• Technological advances In computer-related fields, such as microprocessing andelectronics, and specific areas of instrumenta-tion. The IAEA's safeguards activities —through an international network of supportprogrammes with more than 10 countries andEuratom — benefit from the expertise of some ofthe world's top instrumentation laboratories. Insome cases, rapid changes in instrument technol-ogy have dictated changes, making some equip-ment obsolete, or making it difficult to ensureavailability of spare parts.

• Technical developments in the nuclearindustry. These include more modern fabricationof fuel assemblies for power reactors, and theincreasing use of automation and remote han-dling methods in nuclear fuel cycle facilities,particularly in spent-fuel reprocessing and fuelelement fabrication plants. In the process,nuclear material can become less accessible for

Mr Naito is Director of the IAEA's Division of Developmentand Technical Support, Department of Safeguards, and MrRundquist is the Head of the Division's InstrumentationDevelopment Section.

verification, requiring new safeguards proce-dures and techniques for verifying inventories.

• Efficiency improvements and efforts toreduce the costs of safeguards implementation.The IAEA's financial situation has heightenedinterest in the development of more cost-effec-tive safeguards measures and techniques, par-ticularly with respect to specific types of nuclearfacilities.

When considered from a broad perspective,technological developments have substantiallyimproved safeguards instrumentation capa-bilities. Of course, concomitant with the im-provements, new requirements relating to instru-ment support and training also have risen.

Today, no major gap exists between aspecific requirement for an instrument applica-tion and the availability of an instrument that, inprinciple, can accommodate that requirement. Insome circumstances, the quality of the instru-ment is state-of-the-art. Even so, in most situa-tions, the instrument's sophistication orcapability has to be compromised to improve itsreliability when utilized under industrial condi-tions.

On the other end of the spectrum, situationsremain where the readily available instrument isjust barely adequate.

In most cases, safeguards requirementsdemand stringent specifications that cannot bemet by off-the-shelf equipment. Consequently,most Agency safeguards equipment must be cus-tom-designed. This generally insures that techni-cal objectives are met. But it does not insure thatthe strategy for implementing the new equipmentis optimum or that the support infrastructure canreadily accommodate it.

In this respect, technological developmentshave raised an important problem that the IAEAnow is addressing: how best to integrate high-technology equipment within the Agency's

by K. NaitoandD.E. Rundquist

IAEA BULLETIN, 1/1992 11

FEATURES

Results of IAEA-supported research in Asia and the Pacific:Effects of air pollution on lung permeability

Total suspended particles•t°n"^ I £\J

P 110£100

- 908 80i 70£ 60c 50

CM 40H 30

§ 20

102 n

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80 120 160 200 240 280Total suspended particles (micrograms/cubic metre)

Sulphur dioxide

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±1 100

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P 50cg 40

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- Note: TV2 = The time for clearanceof half of the initial radioactivityin the lungs from the inhaled aerosol.

Singapore•'

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T Manila

- t Bombayl Seoul j_

20 40 60 80 100 120SO., (micrograms/cubic metre)

ing the concentrations of TSP — the pollutantthat has the most impact on lungs — and to theconcentration of SO:. Based on the results, it isreasonable to assume that the altered per-meability was due to possible lung injury as aresult of long exposure to ambient air pollution,as these subjects were otherwise healthy non-smoking adults. The tests, therefore, provide awindow to view the effects of urban air pollutionon lungs. Before firm conclusions can be drawn,however, the study's findings w i l l require fol-low-up work.

In a number of respects, this IAEA-supportedresearch has broken new ground in the field, byproviding a quantitative method for testing theeffects of envi ronmenta l pol lut ion on thephysiology of the human lung. Since lungs arethe primary organs exposed directly to the en-vironment, it is now feasible to more closelyassociate lung damage with the incidence ofrespiratory disorders. This opens the way forgreater unders tanding of the mechanismsthrough which air pol lu t ion affects humanhealth.

A participant in an IAEA-supported air pollution studyinhales a radiolabelled aerosol to measure thepermeability of his lungs.

Through its programmes in areas of researchand technical co-operation, the IAEA is support-ing a range of studies on aspects of air pol lut ion,the environment, and health. In 1995. for ex-ample, the expansion is envisaged of an ongoingjoint project involving the IAEA. United NationsDevelopment Programme, and countries of theIAEA's regional co-operative arrangement(RCA) in Asia and the Pacific. Its overall locusw i l l be on the use of isotopes and radiation tostrengthen technology and support environmen-t a l l y susta inable development. Current ly 15countries in the Asia and Pacific region are par-t ic ipat ing in the project, which also includesstudies related to sediments and soils, waterbodies, and biomonitors.

Toxic heavy metals: Studying humanexposures through food and water

For centuries, people have been mining andrefining toxic heavy metals, such as lead andmercury. Unfortunately, over time the environ-ment, including foodstuffs and drinking water,has become contaminated with these and otherelements. (See tahle.l Some researchers evenbelieve that lead toxicity was one of the factorscontributing to the fall of the Roman empire.More certain is the fact that people have beencontributing to the long-range contamination ofthe planet with lead since pre-Christian times, ashas been demonstrated recently by an analysis ofGreenland ice cores.


FEATURES

Today, the human component remains themost important one in the global bio-geochemi-cal cycling of toxic heavy metals. Moreover, theannual total toxicity of all metals mobilized byhuman activities presently exceeds the combinedtotal toxicity of all the radioactive and organicwastes generated each year*

It is therefore not surprising that many na-tional and international programmes on the as-sessment of human exposure to environmentalpollutants place high priority on the study oftoxic heavy metals. At the United Nations level,many of these programmes fall within theframework of "Agenda 21", a group of activitiesrelating to sustainable development which aroseout of the 1992 UN Conference on Environmentand Development.

lAEA-supportedprogrammes. Arsenic, cad-mium, copper, lead, and mercury, among othertoxic elements, are all amenable to study by avariety of nuclear and nuclear-based techniques.The main techniques involved include neutronactivation analysis, energy-dispersive X-rayfluorescence analysis, particle-induced X-rayemission, inductively-coupled plasma massspectrometry, and a variety of isotopic tracerstudies. Through various avenues, the IAEA issupporting work in specific areas of research.(See box, next page.)

One of the most useful applications ofnuclear analytical techniques has to do with theuse of "biomonitors". Human hair is an exampleof such a biomonitor, one with historical as wellas environmental applications. (Debates, for ex-ample, still continue on whether Napoleon diedof arsenic poisoning, and whether this can beestablished by analysis of some hair samplesallegedly taken from his corpse.)

A more "living" application of hair analysisis demonstrated in a current IAEA-supportedresearch programme, in which hair is being usedto monitor exposure to mercury in pregnantwomen and their newborn babies. The WorldHealth Organization (WHO) has proposed thatlevels of mercury in hair should not exceed 4 to6 micrograms per gram, otherwise there is a riskof neurological damage to the newborn baby.The IAEA's work has shown that this level isexceeded in population groups in severaldeveloping countries. Exposure usually arisesfrom consumption of contaminated fish. Par-ticularly high levels (as in some subjects livingin the Amazon basin in Brazil) are probably

* As measured by the quantity of water needed to diluteradioactive and organic wastes to drinking water quality. Seethe article by J.O. Nriagu and J.P. Pacyna, Nature, Vol. 3, 33(May 1988).

Typical heavy metals in the environment, and some limits on humanexposure to them

Arsenic

Cadmium

Copper

Lead

Mercury

Limit forair1

0'

10-20ng/m3

(urban air)

-

0.5-1 microgramsperm3

1 microgramperm3

Limit fordrinkinqwater

10 microgramsper liter3 microgramsper liter

1 mg per liter

10 microgramsper liter

1 microgramper liter

Provisionaltolerable

weekly intake3

14 micrograms perkg body weightapprox. 7 micro-grams per kg bodyweight0.35-3.5 mg/kgbody weight50 microgramsper kg body weight

5 micrograms per kgbody weight as totalmercury3.3 micrograms perkg body weight asmethyl mercury

Main sourcesof exposure

C o n t a m i n a t e ddrinking waterOccupation; cigarettesmoke

C o n t a m i n a t e ddrinking waterOccupation; pica4;deposition fromleaded petroleumproductsContaminated fish;occupation

Arsenic at all levels is considered to be a risk factor for cancer.1 Guideline value for upper limit of concentration as time-weighted average over 1 year (WHO)2 Guideline value for upper limit of concentration in drinking water (WHO)3 Maximum acceptable weekly intake for adults (WHO/FAO). The value quoted should bemultiplied by the body weight in kilograms to obtain the total maximum acceptable weekly intakefor an individual.4 Pica is the habit of eating clay, soil, dirt, and other non-food items. It is an important source oflead intake in infants who live in contaminated environments, particularly houses with oldlead-based paints.

associated with the use of mercury in the extrac-tion and refining of gold. This project also in-cludes studies of the most important organiccomponent of mercury, methyl mercury.

Communicable diseases and theenvironment: Adapting to changes

Socio-economic development should lead tobetter health and quality of life of people. Untilrecently, however, development has often cometo be regarded as synonymous with environmen-tal degradation, pollution, increase in diseaseincidence, and a worsening of the quality of lifeof at least a segment of the population thatdevelopment was meant to benefit. Of late, for-tunately, there has been growing acceptance thatimproved health and quality of life must be intandem with sustainable development, or elseadverse consequences will be unavoidable.

Agricultural development schemes, for ex-ample, may lead to changes in the environmentthat are conducive to disease transmission. TheAswan Dam and its associated irrigationschemes have increased cotton and grain produc-tion. However, they have also escalated the in-cidence of bilharziasis (or schistosomiasis, asevere debilitating disease which WHO es-


FEATURES

Selected IAEA co-ordinated research programmes usingnuclear techniques in health-related environmental studies

Years1984-89

No.* Title

14 The significance of hair mineral analysis as a meansfor assessing internal body burdens of environmen-tal pollutants

1984-90 14 Human daily dietary intakes of nutritionally impor-tant trace elements as measured by nuclear and othertechniques

1985-90 11 Nuclear techniques for toxic elements in foodstuffs(RCA Region)

1987-92 20 Use of nuclear and nuclear-related techniques in thestudy of environmental pollution associated withsolid wastes

1987-92 10 Nuclear analytical techniques for the analysis oftrace elements in agroindustrial products andfoodstuffs (ARCAL Region)

1990-95 10 Assessment of environmental exposure to mercuryin selected human populations as studied by nuclearand other techniques

1992-97 19 Applied research on air pollution using nuclear-re-lated analytical techniques

1996-00 Assessment of environmental pollutants usingradioimmunoassay and other related techniques

1995-00 Workplace monitoring and occupational healthstudies using nuclear and related analytical techni-ques

1995-00 Secondary (regional) reference materials for environ-mental studies **

1995-00 Environmental biomonitoring and specimen bankingfor developing countries **

* Number of participating countries" Depending on availability of extra-budgetary resources.

Note: A more detailed overview of the IAEA's work in this field can be found in theProceedings of the IAEA Symposium held in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1992, Applica-tions of Isotopes and Radiation in Conservation of the Environment. See this IAEASu/teftn's"Keep Abreast" section for ordering information.

timates affects 200 million people in more than70 countries) as the snail vectors of the diseasemultiply in the irrigation channels. Similarly, inKenya, the Mwea-Tebere irrigation schememade the country self-sufficient in rice. But itbrought malaria (a disease that WHO estimatesaffects nearly 300 million people in altogether103 countries) to the area as migrants from thesurrounding areas and mosquitoes from thelower basin of the Tana river both moved toMwea-Tebere. In Brazil, the opening of theAmazon has led to explosive increase in leish-maniasis and malaria. The sandflies which werea component of the sylvatic cycle for leish-maniasis and the mosquito vector of malariacame into contact with immunologically ill-

prepared settlers from Brazilian towns who cameto the Amazon to exploit new opportunities onlyto find themselves becoming new targets of thedisease pathogens.

In areas such as the forests of Brazil andColombia, information is often not available onwhich of the several mosquito species there arevectors of human malaria. In the early 1980s, atechnique was developed to help control the dis-ease — an immunoradiometric assay (IRMA)which uses anti-sporozoite monoclonal antibodylabelled with iodine-125 to bind antigens of thesporozoite (the infective stage of the malariapathogen which is carried by mosquitoes).

The method distinguishes the sporozoites ofPlasmodiumfalciparum and P. vivax — the twomost common forms of human malaria — fromthose which infect primates and other animals. Itthus clearly identifies the mosquito species thatcarries human malaria. The subsequent study ofthe ecology and ethology of the vector enablesthe formulation of cost-effective control. Conse-quently, a species that breeds and rests in andaround houses and feeds on humans may becontrolled by spraying houses with pesticidessuch as DDT. If the vector were a forest dwellingmosquito, however, such a strategy would beineffective.

When used with the malaria antigen NANP,the IRMA technique wil l measure anti-sporozoite antibody levels in humans. This an-tibody arises in response to inoculation withsporozoites through mosquito bites. Because ofits short half-life, the antibody reflects malariatransmission in the previous 3 to 6 months. Thetest can be used to compare malaria transmissionintensities in different areas, and to detect chan-ges resulting from environmental modificationor the application of control measures.

Industrialization and the associated migra-tion from rural areas to cities lead to health con-cerns beyond those directly related to air pollu-tion from motor vehicles and industries. It oftenmeans that migrants are concentrated in shantytowns where overcrowding and poor sanitationcan cause the escalation of diarrhoea!, mycobac-terial, and other diseases.

Easy access to pharmacies in many urbancentres further can lead to the abuse of curativedrugs and to the emergence of drug-resistantstrains of pathogens. As they move into cities,people bring with them the vectors and diseaseswhich until then had been limited to ruralregions. Thus, in some countries in LatinAmerica, for example, Chagas disease hasentered cities. The main transmission route is nolonger the triatomid bug, but blood banks wherethe poor sell their blood together with blood-borne diseases.


FEATURES

Effective diagnosis can contribute to thecontrol of disease. In laboratories dealing withdiagnosis of communicable diseases, the firstanalysis of clinical material is usually done bymicroscopy and culture. Both techniques lacksensitivity and specificity. Moreover, culturemethods are, in general, slow and laborious andsome pathogens may not grow in cultures. Theneed for rapid diagnosis is partially filled byimmunological tests such as radioimmunoassay.in which the indicator reagent is labelled withiodine-125. These immunological tests, thoughsensitive, sometimes lack specificity. This is par-ticularly the case in developing countries, wheretests categorized as "highly specific" in in-dustrialized countries are not as effective againstthe host of microorganisms prevalent in manydeveloping regions.

Occasionally, technical developments inscience enable forward leaps in knowledge andincrease the potential for innovation. Biomedicalresearch has experienced such a revolutionarychange with the development of DNA technol-ogy, which has opened the door to a range ofmolecular biological opportunities. DNA can becloned; it can be amplified; and the nucleotidesequence can be determined. Pieces of DNA canbe synthesized and these fragments used asmolecular probes that bind with high specificityto complementary sequences of DNA. The suc-cess of a DNA probe stems from the fact that itcan be labelled wi th radioisotopes of highspecific activity. This enables the microbiologist

to detect the binding of the probe to the com-plementary target DNA of a specific organism.DNA probes identify pathogens ranging fromviruses to helminths in a variety of clinicalspecimens.

The success of a probe assay partly dependson the number of organisms in the clinicalspecimen. Some diseases — such as tuberculousmeningitis, leprosy, and Chagas disease — arenoted for the low numbers of pathogens presentin clinical specimens. In such situations, anotheraspect of DNA technology is harnessed by themicrobiologist: the amplification of DNA by thepolymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR is an invitro method for the enzymatic synthesis ofspecific DNA.

Molecular techniques hold vast potential forsolving clinical problems associated with com-municable diseases. They are increasingly usedin advanced countries where they form the back-bone of diagnostic laboratories. Since many ofthese techniques involve the use of radionuclidetracers, the IAEA is actively involved in thetransfer of related technology to developingcountries through programmes that support re-search, training, and the dissemination ofinformation.

In time, these techniques, among others, willplay a greater global role in the study, preven-tion, and control of communicable diseases thatfind ways to adapt to changing environmentalconditions. O

In Bamako, Mali,participants in a projectsupported by the IAEAand Italy learn the use ofmolecular techniques instudies of malaria.(Credit: Castelino, IAEA)


Health, Environment, Family

From the joy and pride of nurturing newborns to the specialbonds of gathering at family reunions, these illuminatingphotographs show the richness of the world's people andcultures — yet remind us of the hardships many families face.Among the most acute problems concern health care and propernutrition, topics that articles in this edition of the IAEA Bulletinaddress from various perspectives. The photographs shownhere, and on the cover and inside cover page, are all awardwinners. They were selected from more than 10 000 entries to theWorld Photo Contest "The Family" organized by the UnitedNations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization(UNESCO) and the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO(ACCU) in Tokyo within the framework of the World Decade forCultural Development and as a special contribution to the UnitedNations International Year of the Family 1994. This page: In"Kazakh Family" by R. Gombojav of Mongolia, the whole familygathers in Bayan Olgui aimak for a commemorative photo, whichwas awarded a Special Prize in the photo contest. In Habana,Cuba, "Dear Papa" by Humberto G. Mayo! captures the specialmoment for new fathers. Facing page, clockwise from top. left:"Pride" by Elaine Abrams of the United States shows the sharedemotions of a father and son in China. In Ho Chi Minn City,children brighten the way in "Eyes and Smile" by Tuong Linh ofViet Nam. In Maseru, Lesotho, a young couple and their daughterpose for "First Born at One" by A.C. Ebenebe of Nigeria. InAntalya, Turkey, twins lead the way in an untitled photo byTimurtas Onan of Turkey. In "Families" by Mohammad RezaBaharnaz of Iran, which earned a Special Prize in the photocontest, a family moves to a warmer environment as the colddays of winter approach. All photos courtesy of ACCU.


FEATURES

Human health and nutrition:How isotopes are helpingto overcome"hidden hunger"

In increasing ways, stable and radioactive isotopes are contributingto research of serious nutritional problems affecting human health

byRobert M. Parr

andCarla R. Fjeld

Helealth authorities in all countries are con-cerned about the nutrition of their population.

In the industrialized world, major concernsare related to what has been called "over nutri-tion". With higher affluence and urbanization,diets tend to become higher in energy and fat,especially saturated fat. They also have less fibreand complex carbohydrates, and more alcohol.These and other risk factors are leading to in-creased incidence of obesity, hypertension, car-diovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, os-teoporosis, anaemia and some cancers, with im-mense social and health care costs.

For developing countries, the problemschiefly lie on the other end of the spectrum."Under nutrition", or malnutrition, is the prin-cipal enemy, mainly of poor people who ex-perience the most widespread and severe effectsof malnutrition.

Some statistics are truly alarming. More than780 million people — 20% of the developingworld — are chronically undernourished. About190 million children under five years of age,including more than 150 million in Asia and 27million in Africa, suffer from protein-energy mal-nutrition. Every day, 40 000 children under theage of five die, and malnutrition is a major con-tributing factor. Some 2000 million people inmore than 100 developing countries suffer frommicronutrient deficiencies that can lead to blind-ness, mental retardation, and even death.

Many problems are not new — indeed, most ofthem have been recognized for years. Theirseverity varies widely from one country to another,and also over time. Some countries have ob-served significant decreases in diet-relatedmortality in recent years; many others, however,

Mr. Parr is Head of the IAEA's Nutritional and Health-RelatedEnvironmental Studies Section of the Division of HumanHealth, and Ms. Fjeld is a staff member of the Section.

show substantial increases. (See graphs, page20.)

Nutritional problems underlying these trends(particularly in developing countries) aregenerally not related to an absolute deficiency offood — to overt hunger. In most cases, they arecaused by insufficient quality of food, or lack ofvariety, leading to deficiencies of vitamins andessential minerals. Because many effects are notimmediately obvious to the naked eye, the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) has coined the term"hidden hunger" to describe these problems.

In a number of ways, the work of the IAEAis contributing to efforts directed at overcominghidden hunger and other nutrition problems.The rationale for the IAEA's involvement istwofold. First, adequate nutrition is an essentialcomponent of any strategy for improving health,and the IAEA's Statute specifically identifies"enlarging the contribution of atomic energy topeace, health and prosperity" as the major objec-tive of programmes. Second, isotope techniqueshave a wide variety of applications — some ofthem unique — for targeted research in humannutrition, for assessing nutritional status, and formonitoring the effectiveness of nutritional inter-vention programmes. (See table, page 21.)

This article provides a brief overview ofthese techniques and their main applications inareas of human nutrition. It further illustrateshow the IAEA's programmes are directedtowards helping to solve specific nutritionproblems, particularly those affecting womenand children in developing countries.

Micronutrient malnutrition:Vitamin and mineral deficiencies

Overview of the problem. Micronutrients —vitamins and minerals — play a wide role in


FEATURES

Millions of men, women, and children around the worldare undernourished for one reason or another. Through

various programmes, the IAEA is supporting work tostudy nutritional problems and improve the health of

people, often placing particular emphasis on maternaland child nutrition. The work includes targeted researchprojects, technical assistance, and training courses for

scientists — such as the one shown at right in AddisAbaba, Ethiopia in November 1993 — on the use of

nuclear and related techniques for studying aspects ofmalnutrition and health. Since 1990, the IAEA hassupported nutrition programmes in more than 50

Countries. (Credits: AEA Technology: Schytte/WHO; fi. Parr, IAEA)


FEATURES

World Declaration on Nutrition

One of the most significant recent events in human nutrition was theInternational Conference on Nutrition (ICN) organized by the World HealthOrganization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of theUnited Nations in Rome at the end of 1992. For the first time in history,governments acting in an international forum were asked to think beyondthe still-present problems of hunger and survival and to focus squarely onnutrition and health. The outcome was a "World Declaration on Nutrition".It was adopted by government ministers and senior policy makers from morethan 150 countries, together with representatives of non-governmental or-ganizations. Selected quotations from this declaration appear below:

• the nutritional well-being of all people is a pre-condition for thedevelopment of societies... it should be a key objective of programmesin human development and at the centre of our socio-economicdevelopment plans and strategies

• globally there is enough food for all ... inadequate access is the mainproblem

• access to nutritionally adequate and safe food is a right of each in-dividual

• there is a high prevalence and increasing numbers of malnourishedchildren under five years of age in parts of Africa, Asia and LatinAmerica and the Caribbean ... particular emphasis should be given totheir nutrition problems

• more than 2000 million people, mostly women and children, aredeficient in one or more micronutrients

• nutrition goals of the Fourth United Nations Development Decadeinclude.. reducing malnutrition and mortality among children substan-tially

• nutrition goals of the World Summit for Children (to be reached by theyear 2000) include: reduction in severe as well as moderate malnutritionamong under-5 children by half of 1990 levels; reduction of irondeficiency anaemia in women by one-third of the 1990 levels; virtualelimination of iodine deficiency disorders; virtual elimination ofvitamin-A deficiency and its consequences; and institutionalization ofgrowth promotion and its regular monitoring in all countries by the endof the 1990s

• basic and applied scientific research, as well as food and nutritionsurveillance systems, are needed to more clearly identify the factorsthat contribute to the problems of malnutrition and the ways and meansof eliminating these problems, particularly for women, children andaged persons

• the governing bodies of FAO, WHO ... and other concerned interna-tional organizations should ... decide on ways and means of givingappropriate priority to their nutrition-related programmes and activitiesaimed at ensuring, as soon as possible, the vigorous and coordinatedimplementation of activities recommended in the World Declarationand Plan of Action for Nutrition ... this would include, as appropriate,increased assistance to the member countries.

health and development. Besides preventingspecific disorders, they protect the lives ofmothers and children, stimulate cognitivedevelopment, help protect against infections andimprove people's capacity for work.

Micronutrient deficiencies can cause harmfrom the moment of conception because theyinfluence the regulation of growth and otherphysiological processes. Deficiencies can lead to

Change in mortality rates due todiet-related non-communicable

diseases

-30 -25 -20 -15 -10-5 0Decreasing mortality (%)

Hong KongGermany

Austria

PortugalSpain

Trinidad & TobagoVenezuelaSn LankaHungary

Costa Rica(former) CSFR

SingaporeBulgariaGreeceMexico

YugoslaviaPoland

MauritiusEcuador

Egypt

Thailand

0 20 60 100 140 180Increasing mortality (%)

Note: Data applies to subjects 65 years and over,between 1960-64 and 1985-89 m 42 countries.

Source: WHO

a vicious cycle that takes more than one genera-tion to correct: malnourished mothers give birthto children who carry the effects into adulthoodand, if female, into the next generation.

Iron deficiency is the most common nutri-tional deficiency in the world today. In infancyand childhood, it can impair learning and theability to resist disease. The lethargy it inducesin adults reduces their capacity to work and to


FEATURES

Examples of IAEA support to humannutrition programmes (1990-1994)

Research & Trainingtechnical assis- &

tance* seminars*1

ArgentinaAustralia

Bangladesh

Bolivia

Brazil

Cameroon

Canada

Chile

ChinaCzech Republic

Ethiopia

Finland

France

Germany

Ghana

Guatemala

Hungary

India

Indonesia

Iran

Italy

Jamaica

Kenya

Madagascar

Malaysia

Mauritius

Mexico

Myanmar

Netherlands

Nepal

Nigeria

Pakistan

Papua New Gunea

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Senegal

Sierra Leone

Slovenia

Spam

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Tanzania

Thailand

Turkey

Uganda

United Kingdom

United States

USSR (former)

Venezuela

Zaire

1241

212331

111

2162112

3

111

212111

1

2111

11

5111

1

1

241

22

4

2

201

41

21

2

121

121

122

1

222

124

11

take care of families and homes. More than 2000million people worldwide are anaemic or irondeficient, most of them in developing countries.The loss of menstrual blood makes women ofchild-bearing age particularly vulnerable.Anaemia contributes to high maternal mortalityrates, low birth weight, and increased infant mor-tality.

Iodine deficiency affects production of thethyroid hormones that govern the developmentand function of the brain and nervous system andregulate body heat and energy. A low level ofthyroid hormones can reduce both physical andmental capacity. In pregnant women, iodinedeficiency can cause miscarriages and stillbirths. It may lead to irreversible brain damagein the foetus or newborn and cause mental retar-dation in children. It is estimated that more than1000 million persons live in areas at risk ofiodine deficiency. Two hundred million havegoitre — an enlargement of the thyroid gland inthe neck — and 26 million are mentally retardedas a result of the deficiency.

Vitamin-A deficiency is the most commoncause of preventable childhood blindness,reduces the effectiveness of the immune system,and retards growth and development. At least 40million preschool children are deficient invitamin-A, and among them 13 million alreadyhave some eye damage. Every year, up to half amillion preschool children go blind, partially ortotally, from vitamin-A deficiency. Ap-proximately two-thirds of them die within a fewmonths of losing their sight. A lack of vitamin-Aand other essential nutrients also makes children

Overview ofselected isotopetechniques inhuman nutritionstudies

Technique Application

Radioisotope tracer study(with sample counting)

Radioimmunoassay

Nuclear analyticaltechniques (e g NAA)

Whole body counting

In vivo neutronactivation analysis (NAA)

Stable isotope tracer study

* Number of projects (including research agreements)** Number of participants/trainees

Body composition (tritium labelled water)in vivo study of iron uptake and bioavailability(iron-59/iron-55)in vitro study of iron dialyzability (iron-59)

Iron status (based on serum ferritin)Iodine status (based on TS, T4, TSH)

Trace element content of foods, diets, and humantissues

Body composition (lean body mass —potassium-40)Uptake, bioavailability of essential micronutrients, e.g iron(iron-59) and zinc (zinc-65)

Body composition (total body nitrogen, calcium, etc.)

Body composition (deuterium labelled water)Substrate metabolism (carbon-13 and nitrogen-15labelled ammo acids, fats, etc.)Energy expenditure (deuterium and oxygen-18 labelledwater)Uptake and bioavailability of essential micronutrients,e.g iron, zinc and vitamin-A using appropriate stableisotopes


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more vulnerable to the severe consequences ofdiseases such as measles, diarrhoea andrespiratory infections. Some studies indicate thateven moderate levels of vitamin-A deficiencycan lead to stunted growth, increased severity ofinfection, higher death rates in children, and mayincrease mother-to-fetus transmission of theHIV virus in HIV-positive women.

Isotope techniques in studies ofmicronutrient malnutrition

Many micronutrients, both vitamins andtrace elements, that are of crucial importance inhuman nutrition can be studied with the use ofisotope techniques.

Iron. Of fundamental importance in anystudy of iron nutrition is the actual uptake of ironby the body (e.g. from a foodstuff or meal) in ametabolically active form. Much is alreadyknown about this. For example, the amount ab-sorbed depends very much on the source of theiron (whether from meat or from vegetables) andon the presence of other substances such asvitamin-C (from fruit and some vegetables),phytate (from some cereal products) and tannin(from tea). However, much still needs to belearned about the interactions between thesecomponents, and about ways to optimize ironabsorption by appropriate selection of locallyavailable~fo^m¥ffs~^na~by~the~"use~~of~fo"o"d~processing methods, such as fermentation andgermination.

Isotope techniques provide the only directway for measur ing iron uptake andbioavailability and are correctly regarded as akind of "gold standard" for iron studies inhumans. The most common form of the methodis based on incorporation of radioactive ironisotopes (iron-55 and iron-59) into red bloodcells following extrinsic labelling of the food ordiet to be tested and feeding it to selected testsubjects. Blood samples are taken over a periodof 2-4 weeks and processed for counting with aliquid scintillation counter. Alternatively, iron-59 can be measured with a whole body counter.More recently, in some countries, the use ofstable isotopes (iron-54, -57, and -58) measuredby mass spectrometry has come to be regarded asa preferable technique because of the absence ofa radiation dose, which therefore permits studiesto be made on children and pregnant women.

A useful alternative procedure — though lessaccurate — is one that can be done without theneed to resort to using test subjects. Thefoodstuff to be tested is subjected to an In vitrolaboratory digestion under conditions that mimicwhat is happening in the stomach. The release of

iron in low molecular weight species is estimatedwith the help of an iron-59 tracer followingdialysis through a synthetic membrane. This is avery useful rapid screening tool.

Isotope methods are also useful for assessingthe iron status of individuals and populationsbased on measurements of serum ferritin. Lowserum ferritin reflects depleted body iron storesand is the most specific finding for iron deficien-cy. Immunoassay — either radioimmunoassay(RIA) or an enzyme-based assay (ELISA) — isthe only technique currently available formeasuring ferritin.

Iodine. Areas of endemic iodine deficiencyare usually identified from measurements of uri-nary iodine excretion (using non-nuclear techni-ques). However, useful additional informationon the nutritional iodine status of a person orpopulation can sometimes be obtained by look-ing at the levels of thyroid-related hormones inblood serum. Iodine deficiency of moderate tosevere degree results in changes in the pattern ofsecretion, and therefore serum concentrations, ofthyroid hormones. Immunoassay is the techni-que of choice for such determinations. It relieson the use of antibodies as specific bindingagents to detect a diversity of analytes (in thiscase, thyroid-related hormones such as Ta, T4and TSH). A high degree of specificity, sen-sitivity and robustness is provided. RIA andELISA are the two applicable forms of im-

~munoassayrForceritres~that~already-have-access~to RIA, this technique is often preferred becauseit is more robust; also, as shown in several IAEAprogrammes, it can be made very cost-effectiveby the use of bulk reagents, some of which maybe locally produced.

Vitamin-A. Isotope methods for studyingvitamin-A are not yet as well developed as forthe other micronutrients just mentioned. How-ever, there is no doubt that they will have unique-ly valuable applications in assessing vitamin-Astatus, e.g. from measurements of plasmaclearance of a test dose of isotopically labelledretinol. For human studies, deuterium is usuallychosen as the isotopic label.

Large-scale programmes have already beenimplemented by UNICEF, WHO, and otheragencies to prevent vitamin-A deficiency disor-ders. They include supplementation withvitamin-A, dietary modification to increase in-take of vitamin-A (which can be expensive) or ofits precursor, beta-carotene (which is from plantsources and can be less expensive), fortificationof foods with vitamin-A, and breast-feedingprogrammes. Isotopic methods are underdevelopment which are expected to dramaticallyimprove assessments of vitamin-A status indeveloping countries.


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1000

Country Studies

The graph shows the distribution of dietary Intakes of zinc in various countries expressed relative to thenew WHO/FAO/IAEA basal requirements. The results Indicate that only very few data on dietary intakes oftrace elements are so far available from developing countries. In the few cases where such data areavailable, they indicate that dietary intakes of zinc in most developing countries are, at best, onlymarginally sufficient (and in some cases are actually deficient as judged by comparison with the basalrequirements). Partly as a result of this kind of investigation, the possibility that zinc malnutrition may berelatively widespread is now coming to the attention of International bodies responsible for nutrition. It maybe anticipated that, during the next few years, there will be a rapid growth in the number of studies of zincnutrition In developing countries. Nuclear techniques are potentially able to play an important role In thiswork, and the IAEA is planning to start a new programme on this topic In 1996.

The countries presented are: Canada (C), Denmark (D), Finland (F), France (FR), Germany (G), India (I), Italy(IT), Japan (J), New Zealand (NZ), Sweden (S), Thailand (Th), Turkey (T), United Kingdom (UK) and UnitedStates (USA). Countries in the category "other" are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Iran, Malawi, Morocco,Myanmar, Netherlands, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, the former USSR, and theformer Yugoslavia. The "global" category refers to the total data set from all studies.

Dietary intakes ofzinc: Overview ofstudies in variouscountries

Other trace elements. Isotope techniques —particularly nuclear analytical methods such asneutron activation analysis (NAA) — are par-ticularly useful for the study of trace elements infoods and diets. Of interest are essential traceelements such as copper, manganese, selenium,and zinc (in addition to the iron and iodine al-ready mentioned), and toxic elements such asarsenic, cadmium, and mercury. In a recentIAEA-supported research programme in 16countries, NAA was the technique of choice for14 of the 24 elements of interest, and served as aquality control procedure for a further group offour elements.

IAEA programmes and plans in areas ofmicronutrient malnutrition. Since 1990, theIAEA has been supporting a co-ordinated re-search programme (CRP) in 11 countries on"Isotope-Aided Studies of the Bioavailability ofIron and Zinc from Human Diets". Its main focushas been to obtain critical information needed forplanning and implementing national nutritionprogrammes on dietary diversification and

modif ica t ion, food fort i f icat ion, andmicronutrient supplementation, and in assessingthe efficacy of intervention efforts.

Continuing work is foreseen, in collaborationwith WHO. It is being done to obtain a betterunderstanding of the quantitative relationshipsbetween the absorption of food iron from a mealand the amounts of the main food componentsthat are known to affect iron bioavailability.(One simple example of the importance of theseinteractions is that drinking tea with a mealblocks iron absorption almost completely.)

It is also expected that the IAEA will supportseveral technical co-operation projects in Africaand Latin America during 1995-96. Amongother objectives, they will seek to develop iron-rich weaning foods for babies using local foodproducts. A variety of in vivo and in vitro isotopetechniques are needed for this work, using bothradioactive and stable isotope tracers.

With respect to iodine nutrition, the IAEAhas not yet directly supported work on this sub-ject. However, many programmes have provided


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indirect support, particularly in relation to theuse of RIA for the diagnosis of neonatalhypothyroidism (which is generally caused bynutritional iodine deficiency in the mother).

Several new IAEA programmes on vitamin-A malnutrition are planned. They include a CRPin 1995 to develop new methods for assessingvitamin-A status, to apply existing methodswhen feasible, and to develop new models forinterpreting isotope kinetic data. Secondly, anew area of investigation will be supportedwhich includes the production of foods intrinsi-cally labelled with isotopes of carbon andhydrogen to assess the bioconversion ofcarotenoids under specific d ie tary andphysiologic conditions. Thirdly, the IAEA willsupport the use of some techniques in a jointnutrition intervention project with WHO begin-ning late in 1994 or early 1995 in Latin America.

Concern ing trace elements , the datagenerated through IAEA-supported researchcovering 25 study groups in 16 countries hasalready been used in the preparation of workingdocuments for the WHO/FAO/IAEA ExpertConsultation on Trace Elements in Human Nutri-tion. (A soon-to-be published report will proposenew values for the dietary intakes of trace ele-ments required to sustain good health.) The dataalso have served as input to a database on dietaryintakes of 35 minor and trace elements in 47different countries. (See graph, page 23.)

Special malnutrition problemsof mothers and children

For some population groups — namelymothers and children — protein-related nutri-tional problems are especially serious. Operatingin synergism with diarrhoeal, respiratory, andother infections, poor diets in early childhoodlead to growth failure, delayed motor and mentaldevelopment, impaired immunocompetence,and higher risks of complications and death frominfectious disease.

While this form of malnutrition partiallyresults from an insufficient amount of food, amajor factor is inadequate dietary quality anddiversity. Infection also contributes substantiallyto protein-energy malnutrition. It causes someanorexia, increases metabolic rates, and divertsprotein and other important nutrients from main-tenance and growth to processes involved incombatting infection.

In developing countries, poor children under5 years of age suffer from five to ten episodes ofinfectious disease per year, as well as subclinicalinfections. The risk of dying from a given dis-ease is doubled for mildly malnourished children

and tripled for the moderately malnourished.For women, deficiencies of protein and ener-

gy during child-bearing years increase maternalrisk at childbirth, and lead to low birth-weightsand to increased perinatal morbidity and mor-tality. More than 20 million low birth-weightchildren are born every year, more than 90% ofthem in developing countries. Most of these aredue to maternal malnutrition.

Sustained access to adequate quantities ofnutritious foods would certainly help solve theproblems of under nutrition. However, this is nota goal which is immediately achievable. Beforethat becomes a reality, a key to developing inter-ventions to solve these nutrition problems is theability to make accurate nutritional assessmentsand to recommend foods which improve nutri-tion while making efficient use of scarce resour-ces. Isotope techniques are uniquely and highlysuitable for these applications.

Isotope techniques have been used exten-sively in industrialized countries to provide im-portant information which has contributed sub-stantially to improving understanding of proteinnutrition for the past two decades and of energyrequirements for the past decade. They are ap-plicable for helping to design practical nutrition-al intervention programmes, and for monitoringthe effectiveness of such programmes. TheIAEA's nutrition programmes in the area ofprotein-energy nutrition aim to transfer estab-lished isotope and related technologies, with orwithout adaptations, to developing countries, aswell as promote the development of new techni-ques and protocols. Work of this kind has ex-panded considerably since 1992 with the help ofadditional funding provided by the UnitedStates. The two groups of greatest interest inthese programmes are mothers and children.

Malnutrition in mothers. Research fromaround the world has documented that nutritionprogrammes aimed at malnourished mothers andchildren lead to improvements in health andwel l -be ing . Fur thermore , as has beendemonstrated in Central America, appropriatenutritional supplements in one generation canhave impact on subsequent generations. One ofthe more important questions in regard to mater-nal nutrition is nutrition during pregnancy, par-ticularly with regard to weight gain during preg-nancy. It is often assumed that mothers who gainrelatively more weight during pregnancy willdeliver healthier babies and reduce the risk ofhaving low birth-weight infants.

Applications of isotope technologies instudies to improve pregnancy outcome. Maternalbody composition during pregnancy — and itsrelation to dietary intake and pregnancy outcome— is assessed by measuring body composition


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prior to conception and comparing this withbody composition during pregnancy and postpartum. This information forms part of the basisof evaluations of nutrient requirements for preg-nancy — a critical issue in developing countries.

The other area with broad practical implica-tions concerns the energy requirements for preg-nancy. Estimates jointly reported by the FAO,WHO, and United Nations University (UNU)are based on an accepted estimate of total energyneeds for pregnancy of 335 MJ. However, thissmall increment in energy requirement observedfor the whole of pregnancy is thought to be dueto concomitant reductions in physical activity,particularly in women without access to ade-quate diets. In general, if the energy require-ments of pregnancy per se are not met, the resultsmay be either low birth-weight infants, reducedwork capacity during pregnancy, reduced fatstores which may be needed as an energy sourceduring lactation, and/or reduced physical ac-tivity. The IAEA remains involved in studies indeveloping countries in which body fat stores aremeasured using isotope techniques.

IAEA-supported maternal nutritionprogrammes. The IAEA has contributed in twoimportant ways to improving maternal nutritionduring pregnancy. The first was its joint support,with the International Dietary Energy Consult-ancy Group (IDECG), of a report on the scien-tific basis and practical application of the doublylabelled water (DLW) method for measuringenergy expenditure.* Furthermore, the IAEAhas supported several multi-centre and in-dividual studies of energy expenditure duringpregnancy. The results of some of these studiesprovide part of the basis of a reevaluation ofdietary energy requirements which is being con-ducted by FAO, WHO, IDECG, and the UNU.

The DLW method, which was developed byNathan Lifson and modified by investigatorsworldwide, is a form of direct calorimetry. It isbased on the differential elimination ofdeuterium and oxygen-18 from body water sub-sequent to a loading dose of these stableisotopes. Once the two isotopes are ad-ministered, their fates are different; they areeliminated at different rates — deuterium only aswater, and oxygen-18 as water plus carbondioxide. The difference between the two elimin-ation rates is therefore a measure of carbondioxide production during the observationperiod, typically four to 21 days.

*The Doubly Labelled Water Method for Measuring EnergyExpenditure: Technical Recommendations for Use inHumans. This manual covers major theoretical and practicalaspects of the method and has been distributed to researchersin 38 countries. Further information is available from theauthors.

Measurement of the body's energy expendi-ture is important for several reasons. Specifical-ly, it provides very useful information for a widevariety of assessments concerning nutritional in-terventions. For example, dietary supplements topreviously undernourished children may in-crease the energy available not only for growthbut also for activity, which could have greatrelevance in terms of school or athletic perfor-mance. In pregnant or lactating mothers, thedrive to sustain pregnancy and lactation mayreduce energy available for other functions, in-cluding physical activity.

In children with respiratory disorders such asallergies or cystic fibrosis, medications areprescribed which facilitate their breathing. How-ever, as a secondary effect, the treatment mayincrease energy expenditure and therefore havean indirect and negative effect on weight gain.

Understanding the interactions between thevarious human functions that are energy-demanding is a key to providing adequate dietaryintake. Meeting this need requires measurementsof energy expenditure.

Malnutrition in children. For children withprotein-energy malnutrition, the nutritional re-quirements exceed those of well-nourishedchildren. This is because the need to repleteweight deficits adds to the nutritional require-ments for normal maintenance and growth. Be-cause growth is one of the most universally ap-plied indicators of nutritional status in children,deviations from normal patterns of growth canbe analyzed to learn about the severity andremediation of under nutrition. Restoration ofnormal body weight and body compositionthrough appropriate nutrition in undernourishedchildren requires information about whether ornot their body composition has been alteredsecondary to nutritional deficits.

One way to obtain this information is throughanthropometry, a method in which measure-ments of weight, height, arm circumference, andskinfold thickness are used to estimate bodycomposition. This method is only an estimate,however. Equat ions which relate theanthropometric measurements to body composi-tion are based on specific population values,regarded as appropriate for the individual, whichhave been validated against more reliable meas-urements of body composition using isotopicand other methods.

Applications of isotope technologies instudies to improve child nutrition. Again, onewidely used direct method is the measurement oftotal body water by deuterium and oxygen-18dilution. Growth analysis is not only concernedwith height and weight, but also includes evalua-tions of body composition.


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Deuterium and oxygen-18 can be usedwithout exposing the subjects to radiation andwithout sacrificing precision of measurements.The use of radioactive tracers (such as tritium) isnot uniformly considered to be ethical in re-search involving children or women of child-bearing age, or in applications utilizing repeatedmeasurements in the same person over a shortperiod of time. Deuterium began to replacetritium as gas chromatography, infrared absorp-tiometry, and isotope ratio mass spectrometrytechnologies advanced and precision with thesemethods became acceptable. More recently,oxygen-18 has been used as a tracer to measuretotal body water because it avoids the exchangeof the label with nonaqueous hydrogen in thebody and thus the potential to overestimate thevolume of body water. The most significantlimitation to its wide use is cost, which is ap-proximately 100 times more than deuterium.

IAEA-supported child nutrition program-mes. The IAEA has contributed in some impor-tant ways to the improvement of dietary formula-tions for severely malnourished children throughapplications involving deuterium, oxygen-18,and carbon-13. Measurements of body composi-tion, protein deposition, and energy expenditurewere used in defining a dietary treatment forundernourished children which fosters substan-tial accelerations in weight gain without com-promising the quantity of lean tissue. The resultof using the dietary intervention was to reducehospitalization time by 50%.

Particularly in children of developingcountries, under nutrition and infection actsynergistically to reduce nutrients available forgrowth, deplete energy reserves, and significant-ly increase morbidity and mortality. By betterunderstanding the metabolic effects of infectionin undernourished populations, we strengthenour ability to provide the appropriate foods forreducing morbidity and mortality. Stable isotopemethods afford us this opportunity. Isotopicmethods are being utilized in the new programmesto measure synthetic rates of specific nutrienttransport proteins, and synthetic rates of proteinsmanufactured by the body in response to im-munogenic stimuli. Both of these kinds of studiesare currently being carried out by teams of scien-tists from developing and industrialized countries.

One team of investigators, for example, isworking to find out how infection may alterchildren's dietary requirements for protein andamino acids. The work involves quantifying therelative impact of specific infections on proteinmetabolism and protein anabolism using aminoacids labelled with carbon-13 and nitrogen-15.Isotopic enrichments are measured either by gaschromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS),

by combustion GCMS, or by isotope ratio massspectrometry. The team is also assessing the im-pact of high altitude living on protein metabo-lism in undernourished children. They havedeveloped and are validating a basic protocol forassessing rates of protein and amino acid meta-bolism in the field using non-invasive proce-dures that can be carried out under field condi-tions. The team intends to use the data indeveloping a food supplement that will mostefficiently meet requirements for protein andspecific amino acids, thereby resulting in theefficient utilization of nutrients for growth.

Nutrition and the elderly

Another population group heavily affectedby nutritionally related problems is the elderly.A special concern in many countries is the dis-ease known as osteoporosis. This serious bonedisease of the elderly (particularly post-menopausal women) severely limits their qualityof life and is placing an increasing burden on thehealth-care systems in many countries. It is char-acterized by low bone mass, and microarchitec-tural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to en-hanced fragility and a subsequent increase in thefrequency of occurrence of hip and vertebralfractures.

Much still remains to be learned about theaetiology of the disease, about differences inincidence and severity between populationgroups living in different countries, as well ashow to prevent the disease and optimize diag-nosis and therapy when it occurs. Although it isgenerally agreed that osteoporosis is a multifac-torial disease, there is little doubt that nutrition isone of the most important of the factors thatneeds to be taken into account. Included in themany components of the diet that may be impor-tant are a variety of minor elements (e.g. cal-cium, magnesium and sodium) and trace ele-ments (e.g. cadmium, copper, manganese andzinc). Nuclear analytical techniques such asNAA are particularly suitable for the determina-tion of these elements in foods, diets and humantissues, including bone.

The IAEA has just started a new co-ordinatedresearch programme on this topic. It will focuson determining the age of peak bone mass ineach study group, and quantifying differences inbone density as functions of the age and sex ofpersons in the study groups. It will also quantifydifferences between the study groups in differentcountries. Supplementary studies will be con-ducted using NAA relative to the trace-elementnutrition of persons in the respective studygroups. H


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Radiation issues, human health, and nutrition research

In recent years there has been a considerable increase in the perception of risk associated with low-levelradiation. Concornitantly, there is now a much higher level of concern about the use of radioisotopcs inscientific research, particularly if they are administered to normal healthy subjects (and, of course, most ofall, if these subjects happen to be children or pregnant women).

Many radioisotope techniques are in vitro techniques, which means that the isotope is used in thelaboratory as part of an analytical procedure. None of the isotope is administered to the subject, andtherefore, for the subject, there is absolutely no radiation hazard. (The only possible hazard is to the scientistwho is doing the analysis. Usually he or she has to be classified as a radiation worker, and is required tofollow appropriate procedures to minimize the radiation dose to him/herself and co-workers. The possiblehazards are extremely small or non-existent and work of this kind is universally accepted to be standardpractice for medical and other types of radiation workers.)

For some kinds of nutritional study, however, the most cost-effective procedure is to administer aradioisotope tracer to a test subject (a volunteer). The radiation doses delivered in these kinds of studies arevery small. For example, in a typical in vivo study of iron uptake using the iron-55/iron-59 dual isotopetechnique, the dose to the organs receiving the highest exposure is about 0.4 mSv. This is well within therange of variations in normal annual background exposure to radiation (e.g. resulting from living in differentgeochemical environments or at different altitudes). Expressed another way, it is less than the dose deliveredby a modern conventional diagnostic chest X-ray, or about the same as the additional radiation dose thatan airline passenger would be exposed to on crossing the Atlantic ten times. Although such doses are wellwithin the WHO international ethical guidelines for biomedical research involving human subjects, it isnow widely considered to be good practice to exclude children and pregnant women from studies withradioisotopes.

Particularly for children and pregnant women, the currently preferred technique is to use a stable isotopetracer rather than a radioactive one (e.g. iron-58 instead of iron-59). Although the methodologies involvedare generally more difficult and more expensive, the use of stable isotopes is without any radiation hazardto the subject and can therefore be justified to ethical committees even for studies in very small children.The IAEA's programmes are also promoting the use of such techniques.

Nutrition, immunity and low-level radiation. Another issue of particular concern is the effect ofradiation on the immune system. Radiation is only one of several factors that may influence the generallevel of immune status in a population; others include nutrition and toxic environmental chemicals. Mostinvestigations of immune status conducted up to now have only focussed on one factor at a time, generallyignoring the others. In populations exposed to higher-than-normal levels of radiation, it is generally difficult,or impossible, to judge to what extent changes in immune status are associated with the radiation and towhat extent they may be associated with other factors. A Joint IAEA/WHO Advisory Group Meeting wasconvened at the IAEA's headquarters in Vienna in May 1994 to throw more light on some of these issues.In particular, the Group was charged with reviewing what is known about these topics and about currentresearch priorities, and to advise the IAEA on the purpose and scope of future actions that could be organizedwithin the framework of a co-ordinated research programme (CRP). The proposed CRP, which is due tostart in 1996, will focus mainly on the effects of low-level radiation on immune status in human populations.The main variables of interest are the level of individual radiation exposure, and the nutritional status.Possible study groups include persons living in areas of high radiation background (e.g. in countries whereareas of high radiation background are known to occur naturally, or at high altitudes, or in areas affectedby the Chernobyl accident). Other possible groups comprise radiation workers and uranium miners.

Nutrition and radiation protection. For the purposes of radiation protection it is convenient to makecalculations of radiation doses to individual organs and to the whole body on the basis of a so-called"Reference Man". This is a conceptualized model of a human being whose organ masses, physiologicalfunctions, and other characteristics of importance in radiation protection have been defined in a standardizedway. Recently, with the financial assistance of Japan, the IAEA's Division of Nuclear Safety has beenconducting a programme whose purpose is to refine the concept of Reference Man by collecting data for aso-called Asian Reference Man. Starting in 1995, this programme is due to be extended by new studieswhich will focus on nutritional and related aspects. The elements of primary interest include caesium, iodine,strontium, thorium, and uranium. The samples of primary interest include nationally representativespecimens of total diets and individual staple foodstuffs. The analyses will be done by nuclear andnuclear-related analytical techniques together with other non-nuclear techniques according to the facilitiesavailable in the participating countries.


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Health care and research:Clinical trials in cancer radiotherapy

Through its health programmes,the IAEA has initiated co-operativeclinical studies to improve the outcome in cancer treatment

by Jordanka ^/ountries around the world have seen cancerMircheva become the number one health concern. Next to

accidents, malignant tumours are the largestcause of human death. About 60% of all cancerdeaths occur in people over the age of 55.

On the surface, it appears that age is indeedthe most important factor for cancer. This is thecase only because the older a person becomes,the longer he or she is exposed to agents thatdirectly or indirectly increase the risk ofdeveloping a clinical cancer.

Growing cancer burden. Moreover, the can-cer burden is expected to increase worldwide iffor no other reasons than that more people existand they are living longer. Indeed, the statisticalestimates show that the number of cancerpatients may double in the next 20 years justfrom the ageing of the population.

Apart from the prospect of death, intractablepain, and psychological trauma, the long dura-tion of the disease and its chronically debilitatingeffects place a serious economic burden onpatients and society at large.

Escalating cost. Cancer cure is expensiveand the increasing cancer burden is going toescalate the pressure on national social securityprogrammes, which are already under severestrain in many countries. Therefore, from astrategic point of view, it is imperative thatgreater steps are taken without delay to reduceboth the incidence of cancer and its mortalityrates.

Cancer prevention. Outright cancer preven-tion should be the ultimate goal. Certain cancerscan be avoided by limiting exposure to car-cinogens and risk factors related to lifestyle, oc-cupation, or the environment. It is clear, how-ever, that any implementation of a tentativescenario for cancer prevention by avoiding con-

Dr. Mircheva is a staff member in the IAEA Division ofHuman Health. Full references are available from the author.

tact with carcinogens is far from simple. It wouldbe unrealistic to expect a high rate of success,considering that carcinogenesis (the process ofinitiation, induction, and promotion of cancer) isunlikely to be linked to a universal cause. At thepresent time more than 60 carcinogenic factorsor exposures have been identified as causes ofhuman cancer. Most of these are widespread andinclude chemicals, ionizing and non-ionizingradiation, certain parasites, and viruses. How-ever, there is no compelling evidence that wehave yet identified all of the most importantcarcinogens. As a matter of fact, the causes forsome common human malignancies remain un-known. Regarding cancer prevention, therefore,apart from tobacco smoking, there does not ap-pear to be any other factor which, if avoided,could make a significant dent in the total cancerburden at present.

Education and cancer screening. Publiceducation and cancer screening are of immenseimportance for the early detection of malignantgrowth and therefore instrumental in achieve-ment of better therapeutic results. This approachhas been strongly advocated and applied in thevast majority of advanced countries. However,it has not yet produced any significant change incancer morbidity and mortality rates.

Improved therapeutic methods. Importantly,clinical needs have forcefully stimulated fun-damental and applied research. As a result, newconcepts and agents have been introduced,which in turn have brought about an improve-ment in therapeutic methods. Nevertheless, it hasbeen postulated that current research in oncologywill not have a substantial clinical impact withinthe next 10 years.

The weapon of targetted therapy. Given thebackground of increasing cancer burden, and thelimits of cancer prevention, screening, andpublic education, it becomes apparent thattoday's most promising weapon in the armamen-tarium against cancer is therapy targetted either


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at the radical elimination of the tumour or controlof its growth. Indeed, early diagnosis and promptindividualized treatment provide cancer patientswith the best chance of surviving the disease.With each passing year, more patients with can-cer are curable and treatments are associatedwith less morbidity than in the past. During thelast few decades, the cure rate of cancer patientsin industrialized countries has slowly but steadi-ly increased from approximately 25% (in 1950)to about 50% (in 1985). It should be recognizedthat this progress has been due not only to earlydiagnosis, but also to a gradual improvement ofthe main modalities of cancer treatment —surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy.

Surgery is the classic method of cancer treat-ment. It is associated with a high rate of cure inearly stages of the disease, when adequate resec-tion of the tumour can take place, even with theprice of anatomical deformity and perhapsphysiological impairment. Unfortunately, in themajority of cases, diagnosis is made in moreadvanced stages, when tumour microextensionsand regional or systemic metastases presentlimits to the success of surgical treatment.

Radiotherapy in cancer management

In the treatment strategy against cancer,radiotherapy is the second most importantmodality after surgery and it has the potential tobecome an even more important factor. Its maingoal is to deliver a precisely measured dose ofionizing radiation to a defined tumour volume soas to destroy cancer cells while inducing mini-mal damage to surrounding normal tissues. Inaddition to its curative effects, radiation plays amajor role in the palliation of the disease andthus improves the quality of life that remains.

In the future, organ preservation in cancertreatment will assume greater importance, whichwill s i g n i f i c a n t l y augment the role ofradiotherapy, particularly for patients with headand neck tumours, carcinoma of the breast,oesophagus, soft tissue sarcomas, carcinoma ofthe rectum, anus, vulva, and paediatric tumours.

The last two decades have witnessed consid-erable advances in the radiation treatment ofcancer, with cure now being a realistictherapeutic objective. More precise, accurate,and reproducible ionizing radiation delivery sys-tems have been introduced, as have better diag-nostic procedures and computerized treatmentplanning, for example. At the same time, impor-tant knowledge about radiation therapy physicsand greater understanding of clinical radio-biology phenomena have been acquired. Thesebiological and technical developments in cancer

radiotherapy have resulted in substantial im-provements of survival rates for patients withHodgkins' disease, cervical carcinoma, car-cinoma of the endometrium, seminomas, andcarcinoma of the larynx.

Unfortunately, in a large proportion ofmalignant neoplasms, local recurrence and dis-tant metastases still are frequent. Radiationtherapy's inability to control the disease processis clearly evident in patients with advancedstages of malignant tumours of the head andneck, gastro-intestinal tract, gynaecologic sys-tem, skin, bones, soft tissues, etc.

Therefore, specific efforts have been directedtowards improving the potential of radiotherapyfor local and regional control of cancer throughdevelopment and investigation of multipletherapy strategies. New techniques for ad-ministering conventional radiotherapy havebeen introduced and supplemented by methodswhich can be used to modify the response oftumours and normal tissues to radiation. Thesetechniques include changes in the dose rate,combined modality treatment involving cytos-tatics, sensitization by drugs, or heat, amongothers. Novel types of radiation having physicaland biological advantages — such as fastneutrons, protons, light and heavy ions, andnegative pions:— are now available.

However, these new concepts and treatmentapproaches may become effective weaponsagainst cancer and be introduced into routineclinical practice only through fastidious and con-scientious clinical studies.

Clinical trials in cancer radiotherapy

With the current state of knowledge, it ap-pears that numerous therapeutic methods canhelp control malignant growth, yet they still failto eradicate the tumour. Therefore, as previouslynoted, only new treatment strategies based onadvanced concepts could have an immediate im-pact on cancer morbidity and mortality rates.

Clinical trials are the most important (if notthe only) methodology for validating the ef-ficacy of any new therapeutic intervention. Theclinical trial is a relatively recent phenomenon inthe history of medical practice. Well-conductedtrials have been undertaken only in the past 40years. Before the era of modern clinical trials,treatment decisions were largely based on faithand tradition, reverence for authority, or simplyanecdotal observation. Recently, there has beena large increase in clinical trials due to thedevelopment of many new treatment strategies.

The evaluation of a treatment strategy can beaccomplished either by retrospective study (if


FEATURES

Key Elements in the Process ofCancer Radiotherapy Clinical Trials

Malignant tumour

Current therapy

Effective Failure

-»| Failure analysis

TDevelopment of newtreatment strategy

Scientific research I

•oa>

Negative results | [ Positive results [

Scientific reportIncorporation in the

clinical practice

Accomplishments

Many elements are Involved In properly conducting a clinical trial. Among themost Important are the research protocol. It needs to define the trial'sobjectives; tumour type; stage of disease; treatment programme; qualityassurance criteria; procedures In the event of toxlclty; criteria for response;review procedures, Including ethical review; Installment of data centre;recruitment of clinicians and patients; the eligibility of patients; Informedconsent requirements; data acquisition; and statistical analysis. The clinicaltrial's accomplishments include improved performance of radiotherapy; bettertherapeutic rates; the transfer of skills and knowledge; the implementation ofquality assurance; improved competence in both clinical and statistical terms;scientific achievements; unbiased results; and savings of time and money.

the treatment concerned has been tried in thepast) or with a prospective clinical trial. A majordisadvantage of the retrospective studies is theexistence of serious biases in the analysis andinterpretation of results. This is often due to lackof uniformity in patient selection and treatmentprocedures, as well as the existence of numerousundocumented facts or factors.

Contrary to the above, the major strength ofprospective clinical trials is that the objectivesare clearly defined in advance and patients areselected and treated accordingly. The data arealso evaluated in a uniform way to ensure thatthe results are unbiased.

Basic principle of clinical trial. The basicprinciple behind a cancer clinical trial is to pro-vide specified types of patients with the bestknown treatment in a preplanned manner andunder controlled conditions. The clinical trialthus will allow reliable conclusions to be drawnthat can subsequently be applied for the benefitof future patients.

Clinical trials are ethical only if the foresee-able risks are justified in terms of the anticipatedbenefits to the patient and the community. How-ever, it is unethical to launch a trial if it does nothave a chance of attaining the predeterminednumber of patients to ensure the statistical sig-nificance of results; e.g. reliable conclusions.Only a few institutions by themselves can haveenough cases over an acceptable time period toestablish with certainty and statistical sig-nificance the value of a selected treatmentregime.

This emphasizes the necessity of conductingmulticentre co-operative clinical trials to ensureentrance into the study of the requisite number ofpatients. The vast majority of multicentre trialsare performed by different national institutions.From an international perspective, only theTreatment Branch of the European Organisationfor Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)is involved with the conduct of cancer clinicaltrials in European Union countries and Switzer-land. It is of interest to note that of the 282 totalEORTC cancer clinical trials active in 1992-93,only 35 deal with the application of radiotherapyin cancer treatment.

In the periodic analysis of cancer clinicaltrials published by national or international in-stitutions, it is frequently indicated that althoughthe outcome of cancer patients is better if theyare treated in a clinical trial, only a fraction(usually less than 10%) of available patients areentered into the study. The insufficient numberof cases is the number one obstacle in successfulcompletion of even multicentre co-operativetrials.

This lack of patients for trials reflects theexistence of a very strict exclusion criteria. Onthe other hand, it is in accordance with the maineligibility rule for participation in a clinical trial,postulating that each patient should be givenindividually the best known treatment. In in-dustrialized countries, the majority of cancerpatients report to a doctor usually in a relativelyearly stage of the disease, when the best known


FEATURES

treatment is surgery, alone or combined withconventional radiotherapy and/or standardchemotherapy. On the contrary, in developingcountries, most patients report at very advancedstages of the disease, when the prognosis is verypoor and the chances of improvement by ap-plication of the classical methods of treatment isminute. This warrants consideration for design-ing cancer clinical trials that can jointly includemedical teams from radiotherapy departments indeveloped and developing countries alike.

The IAEA's present and potential role

Seen within this perspective, the IAEA has aunique opportunity to contribute towards im-proved cancer control, especially in the develop-ing world. Specifically, it can serve as amechanism through which countries can par-ticipate in cancer radiotherapy clinical trials, andit can help ensure the enrollment of the requirednumber of patients. This can be done throughcreation of an international group of oncologicalteams from selected centres in developing IAEAMember States and experienced teams from ad-vanced countries, both with an interest andstrong scientific and clinical background for par-ticipation in a clinical trial.

An existing IAEA avenue for such co-opera-tive work — co-ordinated research programmes(CRP) — can be used to both promote the re-search and to help ensure the effective transfer ofknowledge, skills, and awareness of this methodol-ogy in developing countries. The results then be-come of value to all IAEA Member States.

The successful implementation and comple-tion of a co-operative clinical trial in cancerradiotherapy relies upon the appropriate designof the strategy of treatment, standardization ofpatient selection, and uniform compliance with aset of carefully defined therapeutic guidelines. Inthat way, all patients in the study will receiveessentially equal treatment regardless of whichparticipating centre enters their case. Therefore,a research protocol must be carefully designedand adopted by all participating parties. Its struc-ture should spell out clearly the objectives of thestudy, the patients eligibility (including ex-clusion criteria), the exact type of malignancyand the allowable stages of the disease for thestudy, the exact details of the therapeuticregimens to be followed, criteria for quality as-surance evaluation, criteria for response, proce-dures in case of toxicity, and statistical methodsfor evaluation.

Strictly following such a carefully designedtreatment protocol, based on the latest scientificand clinical achievements of oncology, will hold

many benefits. It should not only help improvethe performance of radiotherapy on selectedtumours, but it should also serve to enhance thecompetence of participating parties in the field.

IAEA-supported clinical trials in cancerradiotherapy. A number of IAEA-supportedclinical trials are in progress through the mechan-sim of co-ordinated research programmes.

One is on the clinical application of radiosen-sitizers in cancer treatment. It is directed towardsenhancing the therapeutic gain induced by radia-tion in advanced cervical carcinoma by the intro-duction of an hypoxic cell radiosensitizer in thetherapeutic management plan.

It is tacitly believed that one reason forfailure in cancer radiotherapy is the existence ofhypoxic cells that usually compose about 20% ofthe solid tumours. They are considerably moreresistant to radiation-induced cell killing than thewell-oxygenated normal cells. It has been foundthat about three times the radiation dose is re-quired to achieve the same proportion of cellkilling for hypoxic cells when compared withwell-oxygenated cells.

Although the exact role of hypoxic cells inthe failure of radiation to cure tumours is not yetcompletely known, specific efforts have beendirected towards developing drugs that can ef-fectively sensitize hypoxic cancer cells to radia-tion. In this way, the likelihood of a positiveoutcome from tumour radiotherapy is improved.The major class of drugs of clinical interest hasbeen the nitroimidazole compounds, with themost examined agent being misonidazole (2-nitromidazole).

Unfortunately, the overall evaluation ofresults of 33 clinical trials with misonidazolesuggested problems. They demonstrated that thepossible benefit from the use of this drug incombined cancer t reatments involv ingradiotherapy can be achieved only in a smallproportion of cases — mainly head and necktumours — due to the development of peripheralneuropathy in about 50% of the patients. Theproblem is that the dose-limiting neurotoxicityof the drug is manifested at a cumulative doselevel below which clinically detectable hypoxiccell sensitization cannot be produced. Sub-sequent developments of hypoxic cell sensitizersincluded the synthesis of a series of 2-nitromidazole analogs that might be superior tomisonidazole in terms of pharmocokinetic,radiosensitizing, and toxicological parameters.

The data presented in scientific literatureclearly illustrate that the nitrotriazole derivativeknown as AK-2123 is an hypoxic radiosensitizerwith lower neurotoxicity than misomidazole andwith a higher sensitization enhancement ratiounder the clinical context.


FEATURES

Paraclinical and clinical results obtained andpublished by 25 teams from 11 countries indicatea possibility for enhancing the anti-tumour effectof ionizing radiation for certain types of tumoursby AK-2123. However, there is an unques-tionable need for further systematic studies ontoxicological and pharmacological properties ofAK-2123, so that a reliable conclusion for theclinical usefulness of the drug in sensitizedradiotherapy of tumours can be drawn. This taskis an important clinical/scientific area of concernnot only for developing countries, but also forindustrialized ones. The IAEA-supported CRP,through which a well-designed multi-centre con-trolled clinical trial can be conducted, offers agood strategy for helping countries achievebeneficial results.

The second CRP is a randomized clinicaltrial of radiotherapy combined with mitomycinC in the treatment of advanced head and necktumours.

The squamous cell carcinoma of the head andneck is a common malignancy worldwide with avery poor prognosis for patients with advancedtumours. A large majority of patients die fromuncontrolled local disease (tumour persist-ence/recurrence). The surgical resection fol-lowed by post-operative radiation therapyremains one of the most commonly employedmanagement strategies for patients with locallyadvanced but technically resectable malignan-cies. However, even with these aggressive treat-ments, about 50% of patients will experience thelocal/regional relapse.

The primary control of the tumour, and se-quentially the survival of the patients, might beimproved if an appropriate cytotoxic drug couldbe given concurrently with irradiation to en-hance the radiation effect. Mitomycin C has beenshown to be preferentially toxic to hypoxic cells.Theoretically, the concomitant administration ofmitomycin C with its selective toxicity towardshypoxic cells, and the radiation therapy with itsmaximal effectiveness against well-oxygenatedcells, should result in an enhanced therapeuticratio.

Over the past 12 years, two consecutive ran-domized clinical trials have been conducted toassess the effectiveness of mitomycin C as anadjunct to radiation therapy (applied alone or incombination with surgery) in patients withsquamous cell carcinoma of head and neck. Theanalysis of results obtained so far suggests thatmitomycin C improves the radiation-inducedlocal tumour control without enhancing the nor-mal tissue radiation reactions. However, thenumber of patients entered into the study untilnow is not sufficient for statistical validation ofthe results. Through the organization of a multi-

centre clinical trial, the IAEA's CRP can helpobtain valuable information regarding thetherapeutic benefit in adding mitomycin C toradiotherapy for the treatment of advanced car-cinoma of the head and neck tumours. It can alsomake available the requisite number of cases, sothat the results are statistically validated.

The IAEA also has initiated a CRP clinicaltrial involving the application of radionuclides.Radionuclide therapy with open sources hasgained renewed momentum with the availabilityof new radiopharmaceuticals. The CRP isdirected at the use of strontium-89 (Sr-89) andphosphorus-32 (P-32). It seeks to comparativelyassess the relative merits of Sr-89 and P-32 interms of their efficacy and toxicity when used inthe palliative treatment of painful malignantbone metastases.

P-32 has been in existence for more than 25years and it is relatively inexpensive and widelyavailable. Sr-89 is a recent radiopharmaceuticalwhich is very expensive and restricted inavailability. Both radionuclides have claimedcomparably efficacy, but P-32 is believed to bemore toxic to the bone marrow. No comparativeevaluation has been made of these agents so far.

The outcome of this randomized controlledclinical trial will have meaningful impact on theuse of these agents in developing countries andwherever cost-benefit ratio is an important con-sideration in health care.

In summary, the IAEA's programmes in can-cer radiotherapy are aimed at conducting high-quality clinical trials. This means that the studiesaddress a clinically vital question, are ran-domized, have a sufficiently large sample size,and conform to high standards of quality control.

Achievements and benefits

The key element of the IAEA's co-ordinatedresearch programmes in cancer radiotherapy isthe research protocol. It outlines the study's ob-jectives and clarifies the mechanisms of its im-plementation in clinical practice.

In actual terms, the research protocol is areflection of the latest scientific achievements inoncology. Strictly following the protocol shouldguarantee the successful implementation andcompletion of the IAEA's proposed program-mes. This, in turn, will improve the performanceof radiotherapy, e.g. cure rates and survival ofcancer patients, and increase the competence ofparticipating parties in the field and encourage awider use of this multimodal approach in on-cological practice, particularly in developingcountries. 3


FEATURES

Radiation dosimetry in health care:Expanding the reach of global networks

The IAEA and WHO are jointly taking steps to improve qualityassurance services for hospitals and radiotherapy centres

BJack in 1968, a panel of international expertsmeeting in Caracas were given some disconcert-ing news: While more than 50 cobalt-60radiotherapy units were in routine usethroughout Latin America, there were only fivequalified hospital physicists and no laboratoryfor performing instrument calibration. In otherwords, there was no system in place to ensure theaccuracy1 of doses that patients underradiotherapeutic care were receiving.

The news from the Caracas meeting —joint-ly convened by the IAEA and World HealthOrganization (WHO) — triggered an action planfor improving the situation, not only in LatinAmerica :but in all regions of the world.

The plan featured three components: (1) es-tablishment of an IAEA/WHO dose intercom-parison service for hospitals in developingcountries, to help them monitor and correct treat-ment doses; (2) establishment of an IAEA/WHOnetwork of dosimetry laboratories to help stand-ardize radiation measurements in radiotherapycentres; and (3) provision of training in radiationdosimetry through the IAEA.

Today, these three components are inworldwide service, playing important roles insupporting efforts to improve patient care andtreatment involving radiotherapy.

In this article, the strides that have beentaken, and problems that still remain, arereviewed in a global context. Also discussed aresteps being taken toward a formidable goal,namely setting up a worldwide quality assuranceprogramme covering dosimetry checks for mil-lions of patients that undergo radiotherapy eachyear.

Mr. Nette is Head of the Dosimetry Unit of the IAEA'sLaboratories at Seibersdorf, and Mr. Svensson is the formerHead of the Dosimetry Section of the IAEA's Division" ofHuman Health.

Services and networks in dosimetry

Malignant tumours — cancer — will affectmany of us. In the industrialized world, general-ly 20% and 30% of the population gets cancer.The overall percentage right now is lower fordeveloping countries, mainly because peoplethere have such short expected lifetimes. Thatsituation is likely to change as the causes of earlydeath are reduced.

Cancer treatment includes surgery,chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, or any com-bination of the three. In many countries,radiotherapy plays a role in the management of50% to 60% of all cancer patients, either as acurative treatment or as an agent to relieve pain.

For treatments with a curative aim, it is ofgreat importance to concentrate the radiation tothe solid tumour and surrounding tissue, includ-ing what is called the microscopic spread ofcancer cells. The radiation effect is dependent onthe amount of radiation energy that is transferredto the tumour or the healthy tissues — i.e theabsorbed dose to the tumour and tissue. Sincewater absorbs radiation in a similar way as tis-sue, the physical quantity that has been agreedupon to specify the irradiation is therefore theabsorbed dose to water. This quantity has to bedetermined with the highest achievable ac-curacy, taking into account the delicate balanceof radiation damage (destruction of healthy tis-sue) and radiation benefit (tumour eradication ortumour growth control). The dose determinationfor each patient involves highly specialized workgenerally carried out by a medical physicist inclose co-operation with a radiation oncologist. Itis based on qualified measurements andcomputations.

Through various avenues, a number,of ser-vices are available to assist countries in the fieldof radiation dosimetry.

The IAEA/WHO postal TLD dose inter-comparison service. For participating hospitals,

by Peter Netteand HansSvensson


FEATURES

At the IAEA s DosimetryLaboratory: Evaluation

of irradiated TLDs(above), and thecalibration of an

ionization chamber.

the IAEA and WHO jointly offer an intercom-parison service using small radiation dosimeters,t e c h n i c a l l y c a l l e d t h e r m o l u m i n e s c e n c edosimeters (TLDs). They consist of encapsuledli thium fluoride powder and are prepared andcalibrated at the IAEA's Dosimetry Laboratoryin Seibersdorf. Austria.

Through the service, the TLDs are mailed,together with a mountable irradiation stand, toWHO offices for distribution to participatingradiotherapy hospitals in developing countries.There, under defined patient treatment condi-tions, they are exposed in the cobalt-60 beam ofthe treatment unit to what the resident physicistdetermines to be the specified dose. The TLDcapsules are then returned to the IAEA's

Laboratory for evaluation of the actual dose. Thedeviation between the hospital's quoted dose andthe IAEA evaluated dose is reported throughWHO to the hospital. A deviation of more than5% is considered to be unacceptable and shouldresult in a recalibration of the hospital's radiationbeam used for patient treatment.

The IAEA/WHO network for secondarydosimetry laboratories (SSDLs). One of therecommendations of the Caracas panel was toestablish conformity of radiation measurementsin radiotherapy departments throughout theworld. In industr ia l ized countries, hospitalsachieve conformity through calibration of theirdosimeters to national primary standards. Theheavy workload of the world's existing 13 PrimaryStandard Dosimetry Laboratories (PSDLs) unfor-tunately does not allow the calibration of referencedosimeters from thousands of other hospitalsworldwide. Competent national authorities, there-fore, have designated SSDLs to provide certifiedcalibrations.

One requirement in the science of radiationmeasurements (radiation metrology) is thatstandardizing laboratories should compare theirstandards against each other at regular intervals.For primary standards, the organization of suchintercomparisons is the responsibility of theInternational Bureau of Weight and Measures(BIPM) in Paris, France.

For SSDLs, the same need applies, and aninternational SSDL network was set up in 1976by the IAEA and WHO. It includes a technicalassistance arm, whereby most of the participat-ing developing countries can receive financialsupport and expert guidance and advice. Today.the network extends to nearly 60 laboratories.most of them in developing countries. The ad-ministrative and co-ordinating work is shared bythe IAEA and the WHO, with the IAEA beingresponsible for the technical development ofmember laboratories.

The IAEA's Dosimetry Laboratory inSeibersdorf functions as the network's centrallaboratory. Many national PSDLs and some in-ternational bodies — among them the BIPM. theInternational Office of Legal Metrology, and theInternational Commission on Radiation Unitsand Measurements ( ICRUM) — support thework of the SSDL network. Additionally, astanding SSDL Scientific Committee is avail-able for advice when needed. Consultants andadvisory groups further can provide assistance inthe implementation of specific projects, such asthe drafting of technical reports, guidelines, andmanuals.

The existing global distribution of SSDLs andPSDLs shows that most countries have establishedan infrastructure for standardization of radiation


FEATURES

A test programme for SSDLs:Results of an IAEA pilot study

Three SSDLs, those in Argentina, India,and Thailand, are participating in an IAEA pilotstudy designed to strengthen quality assuranceservices in radiotherapy. The study has involvedquality control tests that the three SSDLs havesuccessfully passed:

Test 1: The SSDLs were asked to calibratea set of ionization chamber dosimeters. Theircalibration factors were then compared withpreviously established ones from the IAEA.(This test still is to be completed by Thailand.)

Test 2: The SSDLs evaluated TLDs fromhospitals during an intercomparison run, usingtheir own calibration curves as well as onesupplied by the IAEA. Results were then com-pared.

Test 3: The IAEA participated as a "hospi-tal" in a national intercomparison run organizedby each SSDL.

Test 4: TLDs were sent for irradiation totheir respective national hospitals by the SSDLsand the IAEA, with the IAEA's TLDs going to10% of the hospitals. The SSDLs evaluatedtheir returned TLDs, while the IAEA evaluatedits own, and the results were then compared.

measurements. However, additional efforts arenecessary for expanding the network's reach,especially for the African continent.

The IAEA's dosimetry laboratory. As pre-viously noted, the IAEA's DosimetryLaboratory at Seibersdorf, about 30 kilometersfrom Vienna, Austria, is the Central Laboratoryof the IAEA/WHO network of SSDLs. Thelaboratory's work covers the:• organization of dose intercomparison meas-urements for SSDLs;• performance of dose intercomparisons forsome 100 radiation therapy centres each year;• provision of calibration certificates for refer-ence dosimeters from SSDLs and hospitals;• acceptance of SSDL staff for on-site training;• design and development of special methodsand devices for use in hospitals and SSDLs;• operation of the International Dose As-surance Service for radiation processingfacilities in IAEA Member States.

The laboratory, for example, has preparedmore than 80 batches of TLDs, sent them out andevaluated them through the postal dose inter-comparison service. The service has reachedabout 1000 hospitals in developing countries.

Until 1991 all results were from cobalt-60irradiations. Since then, the service has been

Results of intercomparisons conducted by theIAEA's Dosimetry Laboratory: Frequency distributions

Hospitals worldwide up to 1994:

240220200180

&160g 140§120« 100u. 80

604020

Correspondingnormal distribution .

0-30

Number ofhospitals: more than 1000Number ofradiation beams: 2403Mean deviation: -0.7Standard deviation: 9.1

-25 -20 -15 -10 -5 10 15 20 25 30Deviation: (%)

Hospitals in Europe send United States:

353025201510

5

Number ofradiation beams: 116Mean deviation: -0.1Standard deviation: 1.6

0-30

Correspondingnormal distribution

-25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30Deviation: (%)

Radiotherapy departments in Australia:

wI

1 1

10g87654321n

• i i i i i i i i i iNumber of [| Correspondingradiation beams: 32 (

. Mean deviation: -1.1 L- Standard deviation. 1 .4 K

iIE

ja normal distribution

-30 -25 -20 -15 -10 - 5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30Deviation: (%)

Secondary Standards Dosimetry Laboratories up to 1993:

8070

60

50403020

100

-5-30

Number of SSDLs: 58Number ofradiation beams: 335Mean deviation: -0.9Standard deviation: 2.2

Correspondingnormal distribution

-25 -20 -15 -10 - 5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30Deviation: (%)


FEATURES

expanded to include X-ray beams from medicalaccelerators that increasingly are being installedin developing countries. This expanded serviceinvolved the support of medical physics depart-ments in 12 renowned radiotherapy centres inEurope and the United States. These depart-ments provided reference irradiations to theIAEA for evaluation. Two TLD intercomparisonruns, one with 48 hospitals in Europe and theUnited States, and the other with all radiotherapydepartments in Australia, were done. (Seegraphs.) They can be considered as repre-sentative samples of the situation regardingradiation beam calibration in industrializedcountries.

Since 1991, the IAEA laboratory has sent afollow-up TLD set to those SSDLs and hospitalsthat have had poor results; they thus are asked torepeat the intercomparison measurements. Up tonow, all follow-up measurements with SSDLshave shown improvement, providing resultswithin the established acceptance limit. Follow-up measurements with hospitals in developingcountries, however, have not been satisfactory inmany cases, even after a second follow-up.

In all intercomparison runs, the quality of theIAEA's own performance is monitored. In thatmonitoring process, some TLDs are irradiatedwith a reference dose in the InternationalPrimary Dosimetry Laboratory of BIPM and/orat National Primary Laboratories and evaluatedby the IAEA. The results indicate that the ac-curacy of dose determination with the IAEA'sTLD system is about 1 % — well below the accep-tance limits for SSDLs (3.5%) and hospitals (5%).

A quality audit network

Today about 2000 cobalt-60 units and medi-cal accelerators are in routine use in developingcountries, based on responses to a survey beingdone by the IAEA. In addition, more and moreaccelerators are being installed that also produceelectron beams for patient treatment. The TLDservice, therefore, needs to expand accordinglyby providing calibration checks for electronbeams. The coverage of all machines, however,is beyond the capacity of the IAEA DosimetryLaboratory's small staff.

As noted earlier, results clearly show that thecalibration of radiation beams in developingcountries has to improve considerably to reachthe conformity prevailing in hospitals of in-dustrialized countries and in SSDLs. Follow-upmeasurements of poor results only solved theproblem in some of the hospitals. Consequently,more attention is required, as well as on-sitemeasurements and discussion with hospital

physicists. This, however, cannot be done with aquality control service centralized in the IAEA.

In addition, an effective quality control sys-tem for dosimetry involving patient treatmentmust look at more than just the calibration of theradiation beam. It also has to examine alldosimetric steps from dose prescription to dosedelivery to the patient. Only then can the dose tothe tumour in each individual patient be knownwith the required high accuracy, and only thencan the different centres share their experiencesto find the best treatment procedure.

A pilot study for a quality control programmeis now being carried out by European centreswith the IAEA's co-operation. Such a pro-gramme necessitates the use of dosimeters inhuman shaped phantoms that undergo radio-therapy as if they were patients. To include allEuropean hospitals, the participation of severalreference centres is required to operate a TLDservice and to follow-up detected discrepancies.

The European scheme has been modified bythe IAEA/WHO for implementation in develop-ing countries. For several years, three SSDLs —those of Argentina, India, and Thailand — havebeen operating their own national TLD radio-therapy service based on the IAEA's methods.They have, therefore, been asked to participate inthe pilot study using their TLD systems. (Seebox.) At these centres, the IAEA will con-tinuously monitor the quality of TLD work, as astep toward achieving conformity worldwide inthe determination of absorbed dose and the ac-curacy of the absorbed dose measurements.

In years ahead, radiotherapy is expected toincrease in importance for cancer treatment,especially in the developing world. An improve-ment in the accuracy in dosimetry is needed tointroduce modern treatment techniques. In prin-ciple, a quality assurance programme should en-sure that all patients treated with a curative aimreceive the prescribed dose within a margin ofabout 5%. Setting up a such a programme by theyear 2000 is a formidable task, since it wouldhave to include dosimetry checks for severalmillion patients irradiated each year.

While the major work for such a programmemust be decentralized, the IAEA and WHOthrough the organization of SSDLs are in the bestposition to co-ordinate the global effort. Thepilot studies of the European quality assurancenetwork and of the three SSDLs in IAEA Mem-ber States move into closer view the introductionof similar networks for SSDLs and hospitals inother regions. This could lead to a globalprogramme having the potential to significantlyimprove patient care for millions inflicted withcancer. ~J


SPECIAL REPORTS

Biological effects of low doses ofionizing radiation: A fuller picture

The two latest reports of the United Nations Scientific Committeeon the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)

provide a comprehensive overview of current knowledge

hen the United Nations Scientific Commit-tee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UN-SCEAR) submitted its 1994 report to the UnitedNations General Assembly this year, the interna-tional community received a fuller picture of thebiological effects of low doses of ionizing radia-tion. The 272-page 1994 report specifically ad-dresses epidemiological studies of radiation car-cinogenesis and adaptive responses to radiationin cells and organisms.

The report is designed to supplement themore extensive 928-page report that UNSCEARpresented to the UN in 1993.* That report ad-dressed global levels of radiation as well as ma-jor issues of radiation effects, including themechanisms of radiation oncogenesis; the influ-ence of level of dose and dose rate on stochasticeffects of radiation; hereditary effects of radia-tion; radiation effects on the developing humanbrain; and late deterministic effects in children.

Taken together, these two reports provide animpressive account of current knowledge on thebiological effects of ionizing radiation. This arti-cle — though by no means an account of allessential information — summarizes the high-lights of UNSCEAR's assessment of the effectsof low doses of ionizing radiation, hereinaftercalled " low radiation doses" (see box, page 39)in the context of available radiobiological evidence.

Radiobiological effects:The current understanding

Since the beginning of the 20th century, it hasbeen known that high doses of ionizing radiationproduce clinically detectable harm in an exposedindividual that can be serious enough to be fatal.Some decades ago, it became clear that low ra-

Dr. Gonzalez is Deputy Director of the IAEA Division ofNuclear Safety.

diation doses also could induce serious healtheffects, although of low incidence and only de-tectable through sophisticated epidemiologicalstudies of large populations. Because of the workof UNSCEAR, these effects are now better andmore widely understood and better quantified.

Effects at the cellular level: DNA damageand repair mechanisms. The biological effectsof radiation derive from the damage it causes tothe chemical structure of the cell. For low radia-tion doses, damage to the deoxyribonudeic acid(DNA) in the cell's nucleus is of concern. Thedamage is expressed as DNA mutation occurringin genes in chromosomes of stem cells, whichcan alter the information that passes from a cellto its progeny.

While DNA mutation is subject to efficientrepair mechanisms, the repair is not error free.Most damage is repaired, but some damage re-mains or is badly repaired, and this has conse-quences for the cell and its progeny. (See box,page 38.)

Evidence of cell adaptation. There is experi-mental evidence that DNA mutations can be re-duced by a small prior conditioning dose of ra-diation, probably because of stimulation of therepair mechanisms in cells. (See box, page 42.)Such a process of adaptive response has beendemonstrated in human lymphocytes and in cer-tain mouse cells. The cellular response is tran-sient and there appear to be individual variations.As it is recognized that the effectiveness of DNArepair is not absolute, adaptation is likely to oc-cur together with the processes of DNA mutationand its subsequent effects. The balance between

* See the 1994 UNSCEAR Report, Sources and Effects ofIonizing Radiation; UN Pub. Sales No. E.94.IX.11; UnitedNations, New York, (1994), and the 1993 UNSCEAR Report:Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiations; UN Pub. SalesNo.E.94.IX.2.; United Nations, New York (1993). Also seethe IAEA Bulletin. Vol. 35, No. 4, page 49 (1993), for high-lights of the 1993 report.

by Abel J.Gonzalez


SPECIAL REPORTS

Radiation Interaction of radiation with biological materialExposure and affects the smallest unit of living matter capable ofLiving Matter independent existence: the cell, (a). A typical cell is

a sack of fluid, or cytoplasm, enclosed by a mem-brane, which embeds a nucleus containing the chro-mosomes — threads of complex biological sub-stances, including the more essential compound oflife, deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA — that carrylife-sustaining information. The chromosomes holdthe genes, a segment of DNA that codes the informa-tion, and allows its transmission from a cell to itsdescendants. The cytoplasm also embeds organellesgoverning important metabolic functions of the cellsand the generation of vital energy.

The human body contains a total of around onehundred trillion (or 10 ) cells. They are variable inshape and size, the average diameter being lower than10 micrometres. The large majority of cells are so-matic cells, i.e. those which make up the bulk of theorganism. A relatively minor number of cells pass onhereditary information from the organism to its de-scendants during reproduction: they are called germcells1. From the large number of human cells, only afraction has stem-like properties, i.e. are able to re-produce a progeny of cells. The human body containsa total of around 1010to 101 'of these stem cells; theirfraction varies among tissues and organs, and alsowith age.

Radiation can ionize any atom in the cell compo-nents. An important outcome is the production ofactive chemical radicals, extremely reactive com-pounds, able to promote chemical changes in the cell.These changes may either damage essential cellularfunctions, and potentially kill the cell or prevent itfrom reproducing, or alter the genetic information.The target cells for the radiation effects that areexpressed as a modification of the cell's geneticinformation are the stem cells. Interactions of radia-tion with cell material may occur at random at anymoment during the dynamic process of reproductionof stem cells. At low radiation doses, there may be agreat deal of incident radiation per cell but the fre-quency of interactions is extremely low. UNSCEARestimates that a low radiation dose (e.g. 1 mSv perannum) will produce, on average, circa one interac-tion per cell in a year.

The human cell contains 46 chromosomes (b)and a large number of genes that determine the char-acteristics of an individual. Genes exist in alternativeforms called atteles — one from each parent —which occupy the same relative position in chromo-somes having the same structural feature. One allelemay be dominant over the other, determining whichaspect of a particular characteristic the organism willdisplay; the only "dominated" allele is known asrecessive.

The gene component, DNA (c), is a pair of linearlong chain-like molecules called polynucleotiaeswrapped around one another, as a spiral ladder-shaped double-helix complex molecule composed of

IonizingRadiation

(a)

(d)

(e)

two chains—or strands—wound around each other.This complex molecule comprises numerous individ-ual units or nucleotides (d). Nucleotides are madeof four types of complementary bases called adenineand guanine and thymine and cytosine. The se-quences of the bases express the genetic code.

Directly, or indirectly by the action of chemicalradicals, radiation can induce changes in the se-quence of bases and therefore alter the genetic code.This process is referred to as mutation, or a suddenrandom change in the nucleotide sequence of a DNAmolecule (e), resulting in alterations in the geneticcode that, as a consequence, may cause the cells andall cells derived from it to differ in appearance orbehaviour — referred to as a change in phenotype.Possible alterations are point mutation, or replace-ment of one nucleotide by another, and clastogenicmutation including insertion or deletion, which isthe addition or removal of any piece of DNA, fromone base pair to quite extensive parts, and inversion,which is the excision of a portion of the double helixfollowed by its reinsertion in the same position butin reverse orientation. Mutation is passed on from anindividual to his or her progeny during reproductionvia the germ cells.

A cell or organism whose phenotype has beenaltered by mutation is referred to as a mutant. Themore common generator of mutants is random errorsin DNA replication during cell reproduction. Themutation rate is increased if the cell is exposed tophysical or chemical mutagens or agents able tocause mutation. Heat is probably the most important


SPECIAL REPORTS

environmental mutagen. Radiation is a rather mildmutagen.

Mutation is effectively repaired by the cellthrough mechanisms which are not yet well under-stood. It is likely that, if a point mutation occurs injust one base of one DNA strand, repair would beeasy as the complementary base in the other strandapparently can act as a template for the repair, but formutations occurring in the same location of bothstrands, or if clastogenic damage occurs, error-freerepair would be less likely .Radiation seems to be astimulant of the repair process. (See box on AdaptiveResponse, page 42.) It seems, however, that there isalways a chance of misrepair, even in single strandpoint mutations.

Unrepaired mutation is responsible for the detri-mental fate of a mutated cell. If a mutation is notproperly repaired, the outcome for the cell can betwofold: either the cell dies — for instance throughapoptosis — or it survives as a viable but trans-formed cell that may give rise to a new family ofmutant cells. The two outcomes will have very dif-ferent consequences for the organism. At low radia-tion doses, the killing of cells is sparse and does notusually have serious health consequences. But a mu-tant cell can evolve to cause serious health effects: ifit is a somatic cell, it can be the initiator of a malig-nancy, and if it is a germ cell, of hereditary diseases.

Germ cells are: the testis seminiferous tubule cells whichdivide by mitosis into spermato gonia and then into sper-matocytes, followed by a meiosis into spermatids whicheventually develop into spermatozoa; as well as the specialoogonia cells within the ovary which divide by mitosis intooocytes which after two meiotic divisions become an ovum.The fusion of a spermatozoon and an ovum forms a zygote,the origin of a new being.

2 Apoptosis is an orderly, systematic and programmedprocess of self-destructive death of the cell. Probably as aresult of genetic altrations, the cell enters into a period ofcytoplasmic basophilia and nuclear condensation, followedby eosinophilia and cytoplasmic condensation, cell frag-mentation, and dissolution and, typically, phagocytosis byneighbouring cells. Contrary to cell terminal differentia-tion, which is a cessation of cell replication, to cellularsenescence, which becomes manifest only at the end of dielife span of the cell, and to the disorganized cellular deathby necrosis, apoptosis is an orderly cellular process ofself-destruction which can be initiated at any moment in thecell life. It is speculated that radiation can be an importantinitiator of apoptosis which might have a potentially bene-ficial influence in tumour promotion and malignantprogression.

Radiation Doses

The term radiation means energy propagating in the form of electromag-netic waves or photons, or in the form of subatomic particles. Ionizingradiation is radiation of sufficiently high energy to cause — in the mediumthrough which it passes — the production of pairs of ions, i.e. of atoms orgroups of atoms that have either lost or gained one or more electrons tobecome positively or negatively charged, and the corresponding complemen-tary electrons. For biological effects, the medium in which ion pairs areproduced is biological material, more specifically cellular material.

The term radiation (absorbed) dose generally means the amount ofenergy which is absorbed from ionizing radiation by a unit mass of material.This quantity is expressed in unit energy per unit mass, that is in joules perkilogram, which takes the special name gray (Gy); [1 Gy = 1000 milligray(mGy)]. For radiation protection purposes, the absorbed dose is weighted totake account of the effectiveness of different radiation types and the radiosen-sitivity of various organs and tissues. The resulting quantity is termedeffective dose, and its unit sievert (Sv) [ISv = 1000 millisievert (mSv)]; forphotons in the intermediate energy range, 1 mGy is approximately equal to1 mSv.

The term low radiation dose is used to mean a radiation dose lower thandesignated levels; sometimes it is also informally used to mean a low doserate, i.e. low dose per unit time. In specialized radiobiological forums, lowradiation dose (and dose rate) refers to exposures for which it is very unlikelythat more than one event of energy absorption from radiation will occur inthe critical parts of a cell (and damage it) within the time during which repairmechanisms in the cell can operate. Thus, UNSCEAR concluded that lowradiation dose refers to a total dose of less than 200 mSv and dose rates below

, 0.1 mSv per minute (which in fact is a very high dose rate of around 5000mSv per annum).

For the non-specialized public, low radiation doses are deemed tocorrespond to levels similar to those from, for instance, natural backgroundexposure or some very common radiation exposures such as those arisingduring air travel. Natural background exposure varies widely around theworld. Some "normal" [and "elevated"] values of annual dose rates are asfollows: for cosmic rays, 0.38 mSv [2.0 mSv]; for terrestrial radiation 0.43mSv [4.3 mSv]; and for exposure to radon, 1.2 mSv [10 mSv]; leading to anaverage total of around 2.4 mSv per annum. The average annual dose forvery frequent flyers (such as aircrew) is around 2.5 mSv. These dose ratelevels of a few mSv per annum are expected to deliver, during a lifetime,doses of above around 100 mSv, which are of the order of magnitude of thelow radiation doses designated by UNSCEAR.

stimulated cellular repair and residual damage isnot yet clear.

Dose-response relationship. If DNA muta-tion depends on radiation's interaction with a singlecell, then the frequency of DNA mutation — incases of no interaction between cells — shouldfollow a linear-quadratic relationship with dose.(See box, page 42.) Furthermore, if it is assumedthat, for low radiation doses, mainly single interac-tions of radiation rather than multitrack effects aredominant, the frequency of cells with one or moreinteractions, and consequently the frequency ofDNA mutations, will simply be proportional todose. Thus, if a fraction of mutations remain unre-paired, the expected number of mutated cells willbe proportional to the dose.


SPECIAL REPORTS

Cell killing: deterministic effects. A numberof radiation interactions in the cell and some ofthe unrepaired DNA mutations may lead to thedeath of the mutated cell, or prevent it fromproducing progeny. This may occur as a result ofthe cell's necrosis (i.e. its pathological death asa result of irreversible radiation damage) orapoptosis (i.e. a programmed self-destruction ofthe cell) or because the normal cellular reproduc-tion is hindered. For low radiation doses, cellkilling is sparse and therefore of no negativeconsequence to health owing to redundancy ofcellular functions and cellular replacement. Forhigh radiation doses which could kill large num-bers of cells in an organ or tissue, the cell-killingeffect could be lethal for the tissue and, if vitaltissues are involved, for the individual con-cerned. Although killing of individual cells oc-curs at random, the health effects resulting fromthe extensive cell killing at high doses are called"deterministic effects" because they are prede-termined to occur above a threshold level ofdose. Deterministic effects, therefore, are notclinically expressed at low radiation doses. Ex-ceptionally, the killing of a few essential cellsduring organ development in utero may result insevere harmful effects clinically expressed in thenewly born; these effects are generally referredto as "effects in embryo".

Cell transformation: stochastic effects.Other unrepaired DNA mutations may producemodified but viable stem cells. If the modifiedcell is a somatic cell, it can be the initiator of along and complex process that may result insevere " somatic health effects", such as cancer.Alternatively, if the cell is a germ cell, the muta-tion could be expressed as hereditary health ef-fects in the progeny of the exposed person. Thesehealth effects, both somatic and hereditary, de-riving from a cell modification are called "sto-chastic effects" because their expression is of analeatory, random nature.

Carcinogenesis

A most important stochastic effect of irradia-tion is carcinogenesis. It is believed to be a multi-stage process and is usually divided, albeit im-precisely, into three phases: cancer initiation, tu-mour promotion, and malignant progression. (Seebox, page 41.) It is presumed that radiation isimportant as an initiator rather than as a promoteror progressor. For low radiation doses, therefore,as the likelihood of initiating mutations is pro-portional to dose, the likelihood of carcinogene-sis should also be proportional to dose.

Immune response and cell surveillancemechanisms. It is argued that immune response

may not play a major role in moderating humanradiation carcinogenesis. However, specializedimmune functions in certain organs and the exist-ence of non-immunogenic cell surveillance mecha-nisms suggest that a proportion of early pre-neo-plastic cells may be eliminated before they becomeestablished. Other mechanisms defending againsttumour induction and development include the al-ready mentioned DNA repair, apoptosis, terminaldifferentiation and phenotypic suppression. Alto-gether, these mechanisms will reduce the prob-ability that a specifically damaged target cell willprogress to frank malignancy; to estimate thisprobability, however, is extremely difficult.

Adaptive response in organisms. Evidenceof organic adaptive response to radiation expo-sure in laboratory mammals has been reported inthe literature. However, because of the lack ofconclusive evidence, UNSCEAR remains doubt-ful whether adaptation also occurs at the cellularsystem level and whether the immune systemplays any role in the process.

Epidemiological evidence of carcinogene-sis. Although it is not yet possible to determineclinically whether a specific malignancy wascaused by radiation, radiation-induced tumours andleukaemia have been detected and statisticallyquantified by epidemiological studies of popula-tions exposed to relatively high radiation doses.From initiation until the clinical expression of thecancer, a period of time — termed the latencyperiod — elapses. The duration of the latencyperiod varies with the type of cancer from a fewyears in the case of leukaemia to decades in thecase of solid tumours. The action of radiation isonly one of many processes influencing the de-velopment of malignancies and, therefore, theage at which a radiation-induced malignancy isexpressed has been found to be no different fromthe age for malignancies arising spontaneously.

Epidemiological studies of a number ofpopulations exposed to generally high-dose andhigh-dose-rate radiation — including the survi-vors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima andNagasaki in Japan and patients exposed in thera-peutic medical procedures — have provided un-equivocal association between radiation doseand carcinogenesis.

The most comprehensive source of primaryepidemiological information is the Japanesesurvivors' "life span study". This has demon-strated a positive correlation between the radia-tion dose incurred and a subsequent increase inthe incidence of, and mortality due to, tumoursof the lung, stomach, colon, liver, breast, ovary,and bladder, and also of several forms of leukae-mia but not for lymphoma or multiple myeloma.Of the 86 300 or so individuals in the " life spanstudy" cohort, there were 6900 deaths due to


SPECIAL REPORTS

Carcinogenesis: A Multistage Process

Carcinogenesis is believed to be a multistage process usu-ally divided into three phases: cancer initiation, tumour promo-tion, and malignant progression.

Cancer initiation. Most, if not all, cancers seem to " initiate"from DNA mutation in a single stem cell which thus becomes amodified, carcinogenic cell. This process involves loss of controlover the cellular reproduction cycle and differentiation. It is pre-sumed to start as a result of deactivation of tumour suppressorgenes that seem to play a crucial role in regulating cellular prolif-eration. The loss in activity of these genes, through for instance adeletion or a mutation, can lead to uncontrolled cell growth. Theprocess of initiation of Carcinogenesis might also be the result ofconversion of proto-oncogenes, which seem to be involved inregulating the proliferation and differentiation of cells and canpotentially become oncogenes and transform the cell into a malig-nant cell. Relative target sizes for the induction of these eventswould tend to indicate tumour suppressor genes as the mostradiosensitive targets. It is presumed that the initiating eventcentres on single gene deactivation in a number of possiblegenes and that initiation is an irreversible process.

Tumour promotion. The promotion stage involves the clonalexpansion of an initiated stem cell into a focus of non-terminallydifferentiated cells. The initiated cell can be stimulated or "pro-moted" to reproduce by agents that, alone, may have low carcino-genic potential but that are able to enhance greatly the yield ofneoplasms induced by prior exposure to an initiator. Radiation, likemany other agents, can act independently as initiator and promoter.After initiation, the transformed cell may have some proliferative orselective advantage over normal cells, such as a shorter reproductiontime. However, the transformed cells and their immediate progenyare surrounded by normal cells, which constrains their pre-neoplasticproperties as they are prone to be eliminated in the competitivereproductive process. Elimination becomes more unlikely as thenumber of transformed cells increases. Thus, the promotion stageseems to be potentially interruptible and reversible.

Malignant progression. After initiation and promotion, afuther stage of " progression" is needed to complete the multi-stage Carcinogenesis. It is characterized by a progressive ten-dency towards increasing malignancy. Progression might be

facilitated by additional alterations in initiated and promotedcells to become promoter - independent and invasive. Theprincipal phenotypic characteristic of the malignant progressionis the ability to spread, or metastasize, from the primary tumourmass and to establish secondary growth foci, or metastases, atother sites. This is a complex, multifaceted process that appearsto involve a series of subsequent genetic changes within theevolving pre-neoplastic clone of cells, including changes ingrowth rate, growth factor response, invasiveness, and metas-tatic potential. The progression stage includes angiogenesis,detachment, invasion, release, survival (host interaction), arrest,extravasation and invasion, new growth, angiogenesis. Thus theprocess is repeated until clinically important metastases areproduced. Whether and how radiation exposure influences thechanges leading to progression and the different stages of theprogression process is not yet known. The progression stage alsoappears to be irreversible.

Death necrosis, apoptosis

Self-renewal

I Cancer initiation % Tumour promotion • Malignant progression

solid tumours during 1950-1987, but only ap-proximately 300 of these cancer deaths can bea t t r i bu t ed to r ad ia t ion exposure . Theepidemiological data for leukaemia incidence inthis same period indicate statistically that 75cases out of a total of 230 leukaemia deaths canbe attributed to radiation exposure. The inci-dence data also provide evidence of excess forthyroid and non-melanoma skin cancers. Thestudy provides little or no evidence of radiationinduction for cancers of the rectum, cervix, gallbladder, larynx, prostate, uterine cervix, uterinecorpus, pancreas, kidney, renal pelvis, or testes,or for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia andHodgkin's disease.

Epidemiological studies on the effects of low-dose-rate exposure undertaken for occupational ex-posures have shown conflicting evidence. While anumber of occupational studies have reported a sig-nificant excess risk of leukaemia in workers exposedto radiation — which is broadly in agreement withthe estimates derived from high-dose-rate studies— other studies have failed to demonstrate anypositive correlation. (See author s note, page 45.)Studies of lung cancer in miners occupationally ex-posed to radon, however, have been able to providea consistently positive correlation between excesscancer incidence and radiation dose.

Many environmental exposure studies havebeen carried out, notably on the incidence of


SPECIAL REPORTS

Adaptive Response

The possibility has been known for many years that low dosesof radiation may cause changes in cells and organisms, reflectingan ability to compensate for the effects of radiation. It has beensuggested that estimates of the risk of stochastic effects fromlow-level radiation may have been overstated because no allow-ance has been made for this process, which is referred to asadaptation or adaptive response. The term adaptive response isused to refer to the possibility that a small dose of radiation —which is variously referred to as the adapting, inducing, priming,or conditioning dose — may condition cells by inducing proc-esses that reduce either the natural incidence of malignancies orthe likelihood of excess malignancies being caused by a furtherradiation dose—usually referred to as the challenge dose. In vitroadaptive response of lymphocytes takes place between about fourand six hours after exposure to a conditioning dose within a rangeof dose of about 5 mGy to 200 mGy, and remains effective foraround three cell cycles. Following a challenge dose, repair ismanifested as a reduction — below the expected levels — inchromosomal aberrations, sister chromosomatic exchanges, in-duced micronuclei, and specific locus mutations, sometimes by afactor of about two. Moreover, bone marrow cells and spermato-cytes from mice exposed to a challenge dose that followed aconditioning dose also showed reduction in the number of chro-mosomatic breaks compared with cells exposed to the challengedose alone.

It seems that many agents can be activated sometime afterexposure to the conditioning dose and can reduce DNA mutationsdue to the subsequent exposures to the challenging dose. These

include gene coding for transcription factors — i.e. factors affect-ing the process of transfer of genetic information of DNA — andsynthesis of enzymes involved in the control of the cell cycle andtherefore in the proliferation of cells as well as in the repair ofdamage. Observations support the hypothesis that conditioningdoses activate certain genes and that this is quickly followed bythe synthesis of enzymes responsible for DNA repair. If theseenzymes become available in adequate concentration at the timethe cells receive the challenge dose, the extent of DNA repairseems to be improved. The adaptive response mechanisms arethought to be similar to those operating after exposure to othertoxic agents, including trace amounts of oxidizing radicals. Theadaptive response to radiation, therefore, may be the result of ageneral mechanism of cellular response to damage.

Conditioning dose Response

tChallenge dose

nResponse

IConditioning dose Challenge dose Response

Dose-Response Relationship

It is presumed that radiation acts through single track interac-tions occurring randomly according to a Poisson distribution in ahomogeneous population of cells. It can be mathematically shownthat a linear-quadratic expression describes the theoretical dose-response relationship — i.e. the mathematical relation betweenthe dose incurred and the probability of expression of an attribut-able radiation effect. This relationship fits most of the availableepidemiological data. For low radiation doses, there are so fewradiation tracks that a single cell (or nucleus) is very unlikely tobe traversed by more than one track. Thus, under these assump-tions the dose-response relationship is almost bound to be linear,independent of dose rate and without dose threshold.

Since most available radioepidemiological data are for highdoses only, the approach commonly used for assessing the risk atlow doses is to fit an ideal linear dose-response relationship to thedata in order to project it for low doses for which data are lacking.As the real dose-response curve is assumed to follow a linear-quadratic relationship, with the linear term prevailing at lowdoses, a reduction factor — which is called "dose and dose rateeffectiveness factor" or DDREF — has to be applied . Based onexperimental data, it seems that the DDREF should be small. Forcell tranformation and mutagenesis in somatic and germ cells,DDREFs of around two or three have been observed, although atlow dose rates no reduction in effects was observed (i.e. theDDREF was unity), over a large range of doses. Taken together,

the available epidemiological data suggest that for tumour induc-tion the DDREF adopted should have a low value, probably ofaround two and no more than three. In the case of hereditarydisease, a DDREF of three is supported by most experimental datafor animals.

Incidence of cancer(induced by radiation exposure)

per 1000 mSv

Linear-quadraticrelationship

Ideally fittedlinear

relationship

Linear term

Dose

• Epidemiological data


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the dose expected to produce as many mutationsas those that occur spontaneously in a generationand it is obtained by dividing the spontaneousmutation rate in a locus — or position — of arelevant gene in a chromosome by the expectedrate of induction of mutations per unit dose.) Thedirect (or absolute mutation) method directly as-sesses the expected incidence of hereditary diseasesby combining the number of genes at which muta-tions can occur with the expected number of muta-tions per unit dose and the dose itself. It is thereforeaimed at expressing the likelihood of hereditarydiseases absolutely, in terms of the expected in-crease in the prevalence of the disease. The esti-mates of risk do not usually include the manyhereditary diseases and disorders of complex, mul-tifactorial aetiology, in view of the fact that anyeffect of radiation upon the incidence of multifac-torial disorders should be only slight and is highlyspeculative.

Effects on the embryo

Effects of radiation in utero are generallyreferred to as effects on the embryo. They canoccur at all stages of embryonic development,from zygote to foetus and may include lethaleffects, malformations, mental retardation andcancer induction. The first three may be thepossible outcome of deterministic effects duringembryonic development, particularly at the pe-riod of formation of organs.

Evidence of effects on brain growth and de-velopment has emerged after observations of se-vere mental retardation in some children exposedin utero at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The effectsfrom high-dose, high-dose-rate exposure inutero, particularly linked to the period between 8 and15 weeks after conception, seem to indicate adownward shift in the intelligence quotient (IQ)distribution. For low radiation doses, this poten-tial effect on the embryo is undetectable in thenewborn.

Studies of in utero exposures have givenconflicting evidence of carcinogenesis in thechild, from relatively high risk to essentiallysmall undetectable risk, including (possibly)none at all. There is no biological reason toassume that the embryo is resistant to carcino-genesis but on the basis of current data sucheffects cannot be quantified with any certainty.

Highlights of UNSCEAR's conclusions

Taking account of the available radiobiologi-cal and radioepidemiological information, UN-SCEAR has made a number of quantitative esti-

mates in relation to health effects of low radia-tion doses. As a result, the scientific body contin-ues to consider that radiation is a weak carcino-gen and an even weaker potential cause of he-reditary diseases. A summary of UNSCEAR'squantitative estimates follows:

• Epidemiological Estimates:Lifetime mortality:

D 1.1% after exposure of 1000 mSv forleukaemia and 10.9% for solid tumours(12% in total). For reference, in UN-SCEAR's 1988 report, the correspond-ing data was 1.0% for leukaemia and9.7% for solid tumours.

n linear between 4000 mSv and 200 mSv(little evidence at lower dose).

• Radiobiological Estimates:For low (chronic) radiation doses of around

1 mSv per year:D probability of an excess malignancy:

10"4 per yearn lifetime probability: 0.5%D proportion of fatal concerns in the popu-

lation that may be attributed to radia-tion: approximately 1 in 40.

The above estimates are based on the follow-ing assumptions and inferences:

Assumptions: ; ;

D cells in the human body: 101 cells perindividual

nindividual

n initiating event: single gene mutations inone of around ten possible genes

D induced mutation rate (per cell): 10" per1000 mSv

D excess probability of malignancy:approximately 10%; and

D interactions per cell: 1000 per 1000 mSv.Inferences:D

cells receiving 1000 mSv;D rate of target gene deactivation: 10" per

cell per mSv; andD probability that a single track will give rise

to an excess malignancy: 10" to 10" .

• Risk Estimates:Risk of malignancies:a lifetime probability of radiation induced

fatal cancers:5% per 1000 mSv in a nominal populationof all ages; and4% per 1000 mSv in a working population.

Risk of hereditary effects:(via doubling dose method)

D probability of hereditary radiationeffects for all generations:

target stem cells: 1010 to 1011 cells per

excess malignancy: 1 per 1011 to 1012 target


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1.2% per 1000 mSv (or 1.2% per genera-tion for a continued exposure of 1000mSv per generation)

D probability of hereditary effects in thefirst two generations:0.3% per 1000 mSv

(via the direct method)D probability of hereditary effects (clini-

cally important disorders) in the firstgeneration:0.2% and 4% per 1000 mSv.

Risk of effects on embryo:(for those exposed in utero in the period bet-ween 8 and 15 weeks after conception)

D downward shift oflQ distribution:30 IQ points for 1000 mSv

D dose required to shift from normal IQ toseverely mentally retarded:lOOOmSv or more

D dose required to shift from low IQ toseverely mentally retarded:a few hundred mSv.

Taking UNSCEAR's estimates together andadding to them an estimated detriment from non-fatal cancers, the International Commission onRadiological Protection (ICRP) has recom-mended the use — for radiation protection pur-poses — of total nominal risks from stochasticeffects of radiation of:• 0.0073% per mSv for the whole population;and• 0.0056% per mSv for all adult workers.

These have been the nominal risk factors usedin developing the new International Basic SafetyStandards for Protection against Ionizing Radia-tion and for the Safety of Radiation Sources.*

Outlook

Thanks to the work of a unique body in the UNsystem, UNSCEAR, the biological effects of ioniz-ing radiation are better known than those of manyother chemical and physical agents affecting humanbeings and the environment. However, there are stillmany unanswered questions in radiobiology, inparticular in relation tp the effects of low radiationdoses. One problem is the lack of empirical evi-dence. It should be emphasized that at low doselevels, epidemiological studies presently have only

a restricted capability to detect and quantify sta-tistically significant stochastic radiation effects— both somatic and hereditary. As a result, un-equivocal direct observational evidence of theeffects of low level radiation does not exist andwill probably not be obtainable for a long time.Obtaining unequivocal evidence would requiresound epidemiological studies, able to associatean increased incidence of specific health effectswith radiation exposure. Such studies wouldhave to overcome inherent statistical and demo-graphical limitations and moreover should in-clude correct case ascertainment, appropriatecomparison groups, sufficient follow-up, controlof confounding factors and well-characterizeddosimetry. It is not now feasible to obtain suchevidence for the effects of low radiation dosesand therefore a continuing lack of direct evi-dence on such health effects is to be expected.**

Because of these limitations, radiation riskestimates have to rely on an idealized radiobi-ological model, intended to provide the basis forinterpreting the available epidemiological resultsfor high radiation doses. Although the modelreflects sound understanding so far, it is rathersimple, perhaps even simplistic, and it is stillevolving. Scientific developments are takingplace that will extend knowledge of the biologi-cal effects of radiation and may necessitatechanging the model. Research in molecular biol-ogy, for instance, may provide new informationon the mechanisms of cancer induction. Themechanisms of adaptive response and the role ofradiation exposure in the initiation, promotion,and progression of cancer will be better under-stood. The coming years might change our viewof the health effects of low radiation doses.

Notwithstanding the rapid progress in rele-vant scientific branches, UNSCEAR has not yetfound it necessary to make any major revision toits perception of the biological effects of radia-tion and the consequent risk estimates. Nearly aquarter of the human population incurs fatal ma-lignancies but, as UNSCEAR indicates, only" about 4% of deaths due to cancer can be attrib-uted to ionizing radiation, most of which comesfrom natural sources that are not susceptible tocontrol by man". O

* The standards were developed under the auspices of the IAEAand five other organizations: the Food and Agriculture Organi-zation. International Labour Organization, Nuclear EnergyAgency of the Organization for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment, Pan-American Health Organization, and WorldHealth Organization. For a report on the new standards, see theauthor's article in the IAEA Bulletin, Vol. 36, No. 2 (1994).

** Author's note: At the time this article is being issued, theInternational Agency for Research on Cancer is releasing theresults of an epidemiological study on cancer risk among95 673 nuclear industry workers. The study gives the mostprecise direct estimates of mortality due to protracted lowradiation doses. As reported in Lancet (344: 1039-43), theestimates "provide little evidence that the [UNSCEAR] es-timates...are appreciably in error".


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Technology transfer for safemanagement of radioactive waste:Tailoring the approaches

In response to wide-ranging needs, the IAEA has developedstandardized packages and tools to assist countries in specific areas

by Donald Saire,Curt Bergman,Candace Chan,

and VladimirTsyplenkov

Mlost countries around the world do not havenuclear power plants. Of the IAEA's 121 Mem-ber States, for example, about 75% fit into thiscategory. They apply nuclear technologies chief-ly for research, medical, industrial, and otherpurposes. From the standpoint of radioactivewaste mangement, this broad range of nuclearapplications, as well as each country's own levelof infrastructure and stage of development,creates a diverse set of challenges.

Through its programme on radioactive wastemanagement, the IAEA provides assistance tocountries that includes direct and indirect trans-fers of various types of technologies and ser-vices. The aim is to help countries effectivelyprotect human health and the environment, nowand in the future, from the radiological hazard ofradioactive waste. The diversity of nationalneeds and interests is reflected in the IAEA'sprogramme, which incorporates technology-transfer projects that have been specially tailoredto address specific types of requirements. Thisarticle reviews key elements and strategies ofthat programme.

Identifying the needs and strategies

To better understand the overall profile ofcountries, the IAEA has developed an internalclassification that groups countries by the typeand quantity of generated radioactive waste. (Seetable and boxes, page 48.) Countries are facedwith a range of needs to solve specific wastemanagement problems, a fact that has been

Mr. Saire is Head, and Mr. Bergman, Ms. Chan, andMr.Tsyplenkov are staff members, of the Waste ManagementSection in the IAEA Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle andWaste Management.

clearly identified by the IAEA's Waste Manage-ment Advisory Programme (WAMAP) andother expert missions.

Currently, only a few developing countriesare able to comply fully with the requirementsfor proper and safe waste management. For mostdeveloping countries, the situation varies fromnon-compliance to quasi-compliance. The re-quirements to be met by these countries includethe establishment of a comprehensive wastemanagement infrastructure. The infrastructurecovers such elements as legal framework,regulatory body, operating organizations,resources, and trained personnel. Through theIAEA's Radioactive Waste Safety Standards(RADWASS) Programme, international consen-sus in these and other areas is being documented.

Through its entire range of programmes inthe field of radioactive waste management, theIAEA aims to bring all countries to a minimumlevel of compliance and to develop necessarycomponents to sustain a system. This is a longand time consuming process but one that willensure an adequate level of safety to workers andthe public.

In the past, the most obvious means of assis-tance was transferring waste management tech-nology that already had been proven in in-dustrialized countries. Although adequate tech-nological proficiency is very important, ex-perience has shown that this is not enough, sincetechnology is only one of the necessary com-ponents of the required infrastructure. It cannotbe sustained or implemented without the othersupporting infrastructural elements. Even if theIAEA does not have the authority or legalresponsibility to ensure that a country has theadequate infrastructure, a moral responsibilityremains — especially in cases where the IAEAprovides nuclear technology and equipment, orradioactive material itself.


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IAEA strategy for technology transfer

Many requests received from developingcountries for technical assistance in radioactivewaste management are similar in scope and ob-jectives. The volumes, characteristics, and ac-t iv i ty levels of the wastes generated, or expectedto be generated, are also often quite similar.

Taking this into account, the IAEA em-barked upon a strategy for providing technicalassistance in the form of standardized packagesfor centralized waste management facilities, andsupporting tools, techniques, and practices thatcan be easily modified to meet the needs of anindividual country. These standardized packagesand tools include the following:• the Sealed Rad ia t ion Sources ( S R S )Registry;• a design for a Spent Sealed Sources Facility(SSSF):• a design for a centralized Waste Processingand Storage Facility (WPSF);• a series of Technical Manuals for processingand storage of radioactive waste arising fromnuclear applications.

The SRS Registry. This computerizeddatabase is being developed within an IAEAprogramme covering spent sealed sources. Theregistry project's main intent is to create a basicmanagement tool that would be useful tocountries in their efforts to control and recordinformation on sealed radiation sources on a na-tional, regional, or local level.

Several practical requirements were estab-lished for the registry system. It should tracklifetime information about a source -- fromcradle to grave (or its return to supplier); beuseable by a wide range of organizations e.g.regulators, operators, laboratories, etc.; be easyto use and maintain; and it should not requirespecial software or sophisticated equipment.

The registry has two basic functions. First, itmain ta ins information on essential charac-teristics of a sealed radiation source, such as thename of the radionuclide, activity, source serialor other identification numbers, physical loca-tion, the user organization, the source owner, itssupplier, its intended or dedicated use, and anyassociated housing or equipment type. Second,the registry enables the recording of pertinentinformation on the source when its useful life isover (i.e.. becomes spent) so that proper proces-ses or decisions can be determined. It must alsoprovide complete archiving capabilities.

A version of the registry was released toseveral IAEA Member States for field testingwhich concluded in June 1994. Commentsreceived thus far during the testing phase havebeen extremely positive. A number of Member

States have already requested the database forimmediate use, despite i ts developmentalstage.Their rationale is that a nearly completeregistry is better than none at all. A final versionof the registry is expected to be available byJanuary 1995.

The SSSF design package. In 1993, inresponse to the growing need to safely handle,condition, and store spent radiation sourcesbefore their disposal, the IAEA began develop-ing a standard design package for a facilitywhere all predisposal operations could be carriedout in one unit. Such facilities are needed but donot exist in many developing countries, especial-ly where radionuclides are used only in a fewhospitals or research institutes. The SSSF designincorporates specific requirements, such ass imp l i c i t y of technology, convenient main-tenance, flexibility, economy, and safety. Thestandard fac i l i ty is a single story bui ldingdivided into a number of rooms and areas wherespent sources can be received, monitored, storedfor decay or until conditioning, immobilized ifrequired, and prepared for transfer to interimstorage.

The design package recommends a range ofequipment and consumables required for per-forming the handling and immobilization ofspent sealed sources. The interim storage facilitymay be adjacent to or on the same site as theSSSF, or it may be on a distant site requiringvehicular transport. Three types of constructiondesign are available to suit warm arid, warmhumid or cold climates.

The WPSF design package. This referencedesign package was specifically developed tofacilitate the processing of different radioactive

Scene from an IAEAtraining course onradioactive wastemanagement.

it: C Chan, IAEA)


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Radioactive waste arisings

Apart from the operation of nuclear fuel cycle facilities,radioactive wastes arise from a range of activities. Theyinclude:

Nuclear research centres. Radioisotopes are producedin research reactors for different purposes by irradiation ofspecial targets or in a particle accelerator from which thedesired isotopes are subsequently extracted or processed innearby hot cells or laboratories. Some installations are locatedin a nuclear research centre where radioisotopes also are usedand handled. The volume of liquid and solid radioactivewastes produced by the individual users of radioactivematerials in the centre is not likely to be large. Most of theradioactive wastes, solid and liquid, are contaminated withshort-lived radioisotopes and are candidates for decay storageand subsequent discharge, or for disposal as non-radioactivewastes. Wastes containing long-lived fission products, in-cluding transuranic nuclides, are produced only by a fewlaboratories of developing countries. Only a very small partof the radioactive waste is contaminated with long-livedradioisotopes.

Hospitals. The application of radioactive materials inmedical diagnosis and therapy is extremely important andcontinuously expanding. In many cases alternative methodsare not available. The main areas of application are radioim-munoassay, in vivo and in vitro diagnostic techniques,radiotherapy, and medical research. These represent the useof not only unsealed sources, but also highly concentratedsealed sources housed in shielded assemblies.

Industry. Certain industries use radioactive materialmainly in the form of sealed sources for non-destructiveanalysis or testing, quality control, evaluation of plant perfor-mance and development of products.The quantities ofradioactive materials used depend largely on the developmentand level of the national technology.

Universities and other research institutes. Researchestablishments and universities are most commonly involvedin monitoring the metabolic or environmental pathways as-sociated with materials as diverse as drugs, pesticides, fer-tilizers, and minerals. The range of useful radionuclides isnormally restricted and the activity content of the labelledcompounds is usually low. However, some research estab-lishments may use some rather exotic radionuclides. Theradionuclides most commonly employed in toxicologystudies of many chemical compounds, and their associatedmetabolic pathways, are carbon-14 and tritium, as they canbe incorporated into complex molecules with considerableuniformity. Iodine-125 has proved to be very valuable in thelabelling of proteins. A wide spectrum of radionuclides isavailable for research and investigation.

IAEA technical guidance and assistance

In a new series of IAEA technical documents in areasof radioactive waste management, nine documentshave been issued:

• Minimization and Segregation of RadioactiveWastes

• Storage of Radioactive Wastes• Handling, Conditioning and Disposal of Spent

Sealed Sources• Handling and Treatment of Radioactive Aqueous

Wastes• Handling, Treatment, Conditioning and Storage of

Biological Radioactive Waste• Treatment and Conditioning of Radioactive Solid

Wastes• Treatment and Conditioning of Radioactive

Organic Liquids• Treatment and Conditioning of Spent Ion

Exchange Resins from Research Reactors,Precipitation Sludges and Other RadioactiveConcentrates

• Design of a Centralized Waste Processing andStorage Facility

Classification of IAEA Member States by typesand quantities of radioactive waste

To better understand the overall profile of countries, andto determine the best type of assistance package, the IAEAhas grouped countries by the types and amounts of radioactivewastes generated. The first three groups are the focal point ofthis article.

Group A: Countries with single use of radionuclides inhospitals and other institutions.

Group B: Countries with multi-use of radionuclides inhospitals and other institutions.

Group C: Countries with extensive use of radionuclidesand with one (or more) nuclear research centre capable ofindigenous production of several radioisotopes (in researchreactors or particle accelerators).

Group D: Countries with extensive use of radionuclidesand nuclear power plants planned or in operation.

Group E: Countries with nuclear power plants and fuelcycle operations.


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1. Offices 2. Liquid effluent treatment plant 3. Laboratory with fume cupboard 4. Monitoring andcounting room 5. Workshop and decontamination 6. Solid waste sorting and compaction 7. Receiptand dispatch bay 8. Interim storage 9. Ventilation services 10. Cementation area 11. Changing rooms

waste streams that have various activities, physi-cal properties, and chemical composition, and

of plant designs that can be modified accordingto national needs. Second, since the resources for

that arise from multiple uses of radioisotopes andtheir production.

In preparing the reference design and todefine its requirements, the IAEA carefullyreviewed radioactive waste management techni-ques employed throughout the world. First, theprocesses selected for inclusion in the referencedesign had to be well proven and established,and be tolerant to changes in waste feeds. Theequipment selected had to be robust, simple indesign, and simple to operate and maintain. Thedesign also had to incorporate appropriateradiological protection means to ensure safeoperation. (See schematic, which shows the typeof facility that would result from the referencedesign package.)

The design's recommended waste processesinclude liquid waste precipitation, solid wastecompaction, and cementation of sludges. Thedesign includes all supporting equipment andservices necessary to safely operate the process-ing plant. The separate waste store is a large,simple building with no extra features other thanlighting.

Benefits of reference design packages. Byoffering the above design packages, the IAEAand its Member States benefit in two importantways. First, the service promotes the availability

providing technical assistance to developingcountries are limited, there is considerable meritin developing an application or concept whichmeets the needs of several countries and can beused repeatedly.

The packages provide further support to theIAEA's technical assistance programmes inareas of handling, processing, and storage oflow- and intermediate-level waste. Experts visit-ing developing countries can use the packages asthe basis for providing an effective technical andeconomic approach to solve problems.

Technical support and training

Technical manuals. The IAEA has publish-ed technical reports and safety documents onradioactive waste management for more thanthree decades. These documents have providedMember States with basic reference material andcomprehensive surveys of the state-of-the-arttechnologies.

A new series of technical documents recentlywas initiated to help countries that requirestraightforward and low-cost solutions to wastemanagement problems. This series — entitledTechnical Manuals for the Management ofLow-

Schematic of theWPSF wasteprocessingbuilding


SPECIAL REPORTS

and Intermediate-Level Wastes Generated atSmall Nuclear Research Centres and byRadioisotope Users in Medicine, Research andIndustry— is intended to provide (1) guidanceon maximizing practicable use of indigenousresources; (2) step-by-step procedures for effec-tive application of technology; and (3) recom-mendations on technological procedures whichcan be integrated into an overall national wastemanagement programme.

Currently, nine manuals in this series havebeen prepared and published as IAEA technicaldocuments (TECDOCs). (See box, page 48.)Additional subject areas may be identified andcovered in the future.

Technical assistance projects. Anotheravenue of support is a technical assistanceproject, which offers the opportunity for provid-ing expertise, technology, individual training,and equipment for specific waste managementneeds. The objective of such projects is to offerthe necessary support to develop the expertisefor self-sufficiency in the safe management ofradioactive waste. Since 1976, the IAEA hassupported 60 technical co-operation projects onradioactive waste management in 42 countries.Currently, 36 countries receive different types ofsuch technical assistance through more than 40projects. In addition, there are currently fiveregional projects under way.

The assistance includes the provision ofequipment and facilities. Among them are a solidwaste compactor, equipment for chemicalprecipitation and waste cementation units, andvarious monitoring and measurement devices.

Model projects. Also being implemented is amodel project to upgrade the waste managementinfrastructure in selected developing countries.The project recently started and includes the useof standard packages for upgrading the differentparts of the waste management infrastructure.

Training. Many scientists and technicianshave been trained through IAEA technical assis-tance projects in countries having establishedwaste management programmes. Additionallyduring the last 4 years, nine regional and threeinterregional training courses have been held,with a total of 300 participants from 60countries. Practical exercises and technicaldemonstrations included sessions coveringchemical precipitation of liquid waste; compac-tion of solid waste; conditioning of spent sealedsources; and surface decontamination.

International meetings. Scientific meetingsare an additional tool for the exchange of techni-cal knowledge. In October 1994 in Beijing,China, the IAEA organized a seminar entitledRadioactive Waste Management Practices andIssues in Developing Countries. It was specifi-

cally designed for developing countries andfocused on management practices and tech-nologies for waste from operations not related tothe nuclear fuel cycle. The IAEA also providesfinancial support to selected experts fromdeveloping countries for attendance at interna-tional conferences and symposia sponsored byprofessional and trade organizations.

Research support. While the IAEA itselfdoes not conduct any research in the field ofradioactive waste management, its co-ordinatedresearch programmes (CRPs) encourage andfoster it on topics of wide interest. Participationusually involves both developed and developingMember States, thus serving as an excellentforum for technology transfer.

Presently, CRPs on the use of inorganic sor-bents for treatment and conditioning of liquidwaste, and on treatment technologies for low-and intermediate-level wastes generated from in-stitutional sources are of particular importance todeveloping countries. The studies include theadaptation of well-established processing tech-nologies for the management of specific wastesin countries and for other local conditions.

Awareness of responsibilities

The use of the atom must be linked with thesafe management of radioactive waste that isgenerated from various nuclear applications. Akey aspect of the IAEA programme is thereforedirected to creating an awareness among nation-al authorities of their responsibilities to effec-tively plan, develop, and implement nationalwaste management programmes. Its activitiesare helping to establish the necessary infrastruc-ture and to transfer appropriate technologies.

The IAEA's ability to make an effective con-tribution to the safe management of radioactivewaste requires a continuous evaluation of nation-al needs to ensure that the allocation of resourcesand efforts are balanced to achieve the maximumbenefits and results. This is a dynamic process.New model projects to upgrade the wastemanagement situation in selected countries arenow being developed. They will be implementedand evaluated to determine if their componentsoffer the right mix of packages for building in-frastructures and transferring technologies, withthe aim of making them applicable to the needsof a broad base of countries. D


TOPICAL REPORTS

Experts without frontiers:Building expertise for the

transfer of nuclear technolgiesNational and international experts recruited by the IAEA share

their experience to strengthen skills in developing countries

f^rriving at Kenyatta airport, the physicianwas set for a relaxing flight back to Vienna. Ithad been an intensive two weeks of work inKenya, finalizing procedures for an IAEA cancerradiotherapy project at the country's Institute ofNuclear Medicine. His Kenyan counterparts hadorganized a thorough work programme — theyhad even met in the evenings and on theweekend. The project — which was designed tostrengthen the skills and practices in Kenya forthe treatment of cancer — was now into itssecond year and Hearing completion. He hadbeen involved from the start, in the capacity ofan expert recruited for a temporary assignment.His permanent job back home in Germany wasto head the Institute of Nuclear Medicine at theUniversity of Heidelberg.

Now, as he waited out a flight delay, histhoughts turned to his mission report. He waspleased by both the project' s progress and support.Recommendations from his last mission had beenwell received at IAEA headquarters in Vienna,including financial support for a cobalt-60radiotherapy unit that Kenya acutely needed totreat patients. As a radiotherapist, he knew the fieldwell, the problems and pitfalls — and the benefitsand rewards. This was his fifth assignment as anexpert on a specific project of the IAEA's technicalco-operation programme. Not all missions went aswell as this one, but then no one ever said it wouldbe easy...

This short description of an expert assign-ment is a snapshot of the day-to-day life ofhundreds of experts recruited by the IAEA eachyear. Over the last decade, the IAEA has plannedand carried out nearly 18 000 expert assignments

Mr. Lauerbach and Ms. Reynaud are staff members in theExperts Section of the IAEA Division of Technical Co-operation Implementation.

within the framework of its technical co-opera-tion programme. The programme functions asthe turntable for the transfer of nuclear technol-ogy to the developing world, assisting countriesin achieving self reliance for the many applica-tions of nuclear science and technology.

As the snapshot illustrates, the transfer ofnuclear technology is more than the generationof energy in nuclear power plants. The IAEA'stechnical co-operation programme focuses onthe safe application of radioisotopes and radia-tion technologies in food and agriculture, humanhealth, hydrology and industry, and variousother fields. These technologies are used, forexample, to improve food crops, eradicate pests,determine groundwater resources, sterilize medicalsupplies, check airplane structures, monitor en-vironmental pollution — and treat the ill.

There is a growing need to transfer theseestablished technologies, still concentrated incertain countries, to countries where such resour-ces remain in short supply. The major vehiclesfor technology transfer to the developing worldare technical co-operation projects. Right now,there are more than 1000 such projects opera-tional within the IAEA. Within them, thedevelopment of human resources is a key ele-ment for helping countries achieve scientific andtechnological self-reliance. The carriers ofnuclear technologies are scientists and engineerswho are ready to share their expertise with theircolleagues in developing countries. Their mis-sions take them across national boundaries,making them, in a real sense, "experts withoutfrontiers".

Experts work within the inst i tut ionalframework of nuclear energy's peacefuldevelopment. In practice, this means that specialattention is devoted to safety and safeguardaspects. Nuclear technology's peaceful uses are


by RobertLauerbach andAlicia Reynaud

51

TOPICAL REPORTS

On assignment near thePakistan and Indian

border for a jointIAEA/FAO animal health

inspection, an experttalks with local livestock

owners.(Credit: FelUman, IAEA)

monitored throughout the world by means ofinternational agreements, such as the Treaty onthe Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons(NPT), and international guidelines and regula-tions on the basic safety standards for radiationprotection, for example. This has led to closeinteraction between the donors of the technol-ogy, the experts, financial contributors, recipientcountries, and the IAEA.

In this article, the role that experts playwithin the context of IAEA technical-co-opera-tion programmes is featured. Also reviewed isthe provision of expert services, including thetypes of assignments, and the process of recruit-ment. Expert services have become one of thepillars of technical co-operation at the IAEA,alongside the provision of equipment and fel-lowships and the organization of training coursesand workshops.

The provision of expert services

The IAEA has been providing technologytransfer services through expert assignmentssince 1958. Typically, experts work on projectsof their expertise and function as advisors, lec-turers, or workshop participants. Recruited for alimited period only and ready to travel to other

countries and continents, an expert is a specialkind of person. He or she possesses theknowledge of a sophisticated technology, andhas the ability to share it effectively with others.

Applied nuclear science and technologycovers a wide range of subjects and requires amult i tude of different specializations. (Seegraphs.) Five areas stand out. The applicationsof isotopes and radiation technology in food andagriculture have for a number of years been thesingle most important expert activity. They arefollowed by applications of physical and chemi-cal sciences; human health activities, includingthe production of radiopharmaceuticals; earthsciences, covering activities such as the develop-ment of water resources; and industrial develop-ment, with emphasis on non-destructive testingtechniques. For all these applications and tech-nologies, safety-related activities in the field ofradiation protection account for a large share ofexpert services. They are prerequisites for tech-nology transfer and help ensure that an adequateinfrastructure exists or is established in therecipient countries.

Who are the experts and where do they comefrom? The typical IAEA expert is a man, be-tween 35 and 60 years old, with at least 10 years'relevant experience in the application of isotopesand radiation after his postgraduate degree inscience or engineering. He is fully aware of theradiation protection rules and procedures withinhis specialization. His career is frequently re-lated to national or international developmentand he is member of professional societies. Hemasters at least one or two of the United Nationslanguages and last, but not least, he is interestedand enthusiastic to share his experience withothers in the developing world.

But what about the women? Experienceshows that they can easily match the standards oftheir male colleagues. However, there are notenough women who apply for expert posts. Only6% of the IAEA's expert roster — a com-puterized list of expert candidates which com-prises more than 5000 candidates — are women.It is one of the goals of the IAEA's technicalco-operation programme to increase the par-ticipation of women. For this it relies heavily onthe promotion of women at the national level andthe encouragement of women by nationalauthorities to apply for international posts.

The IAEA distinguishes between two majortypes of experts financed by its technical co-operation programme — those who work forprojects other than those of their own country(who are called international experts) and thosewho work for their own country's projects (na-tional experts). Depending on the project's scopeand required work, the same person can serve as


TOPICAL REPORTS

Where they came from

Total: 1849 experts and lecturers

328

114

Where they went

Total: 2978 assignments

598

For how long

Total: 1172 months

327.0

435

337234.5

254.0

105.5

888

Nuclear power

Nuclear fuel cycle

Radioactive waste managementFood and agriculture

Human healthIndustry and earth sciences

Physical and chemical sciencesRadiation protection

Safety of nuclear installations

Direction, support and assessment

817 21.5 229.5

M Europe

§|j Asia + Pacific

™ North America

|U Latin America

flH] Middle East

^ Africa

| | Interregional

^

'////////////////////////////////A

5 10 15Share of main expertise delivered, by field

20

a national or international expert. In recent years,the component of national experts has increasedsteadily. In 1993, it reached a level of 25% of allassignments. Such assignments are playing an in-creasingly important role in technology transfer.

Experts come from all parts of the world. In1993 alone, the IAEA recruited experts frommore than 100 countries and practically all IAEAMember States contributed to the exchange ofexpert services. During that year, the number ofexperts recruited and sent on mission reached apeak of nearly 1900. While the majority of theexpert assignments is carried out by persons notbelonging to the staff of the IAEA, about 20%are staff members. Normally, external staff ob-tain leave of absence from their employer towork for a limited time for an IAEA technicalco-operation project.

About two of every three experts come fromindustrialized countries. The IAEA is encourag-ing experts from developing countries to play alarger role in providing expertise to otherdeveloping countries, preferably within the samegeographical region. This is especially ap-plicable for the Middle East and African regions,which do not yet supply a substantive number ofexpert services. On the other hand, Europe as aregion, supplies nearly half of all expert services.Among individual States, the major providersare the United States and United Kingdom, fol-

lowed by Germany and Canada. Amongdeveloping countries, India, Argentina, Brazil,and Hungary take the lead in the number ofexperts they provide. (See graphs.)

Where do the experts go and how long arethey assigned? Most IAEA technical co-opera-tion projects include what is called an "expertcomponent" in their implementation plan. Cur-rently, expert missions take place in some 80countries in all parts of the world. Thegeographical scope is likely to increase, as ex-perts are assigned to new IAEA Member States,notably to countries that have emerged from theformer Soviet Union. Currently, the highestnumbers of experts are recruited for assignmentsin Europe, followed by the Asia and the Pacificregion, and Latin America. Recruitment for as-signments to the Middle East and Africanregions is lower than one would expect.

Over the past 10 years, the average length ofan expert mission has fallen from one month totwo weeks. At the same time, the number ofmissions has more than doubled. This reflects theincreasing self-reliance of developing countries,enabling the scheduling of shorter and more spe-cialized missions. It is also reflects greater inter-national co-operation, including more work-shops, training courses, and co-ordination meet-ings, during implementation of technical co-operation projects.

IAEA expertassignments in1993


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The process for recruiting experts

The recruitment and fielding of experts forthe IAEA technical co-operation programme is acomplex task, entailing numerous administrativesteps which involve multiple partners. Thesepartners include the IAEA, the recipient and thedonor countries, and often other internationalagencies such as the Food and Agriculture Or-ganization (FAO), World Health Organization(WHO), and United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP). In order to recruit andfield the right expert at the right time, closeinteraction is required with governments,recruitment sources, project counterparts,UNDP offices, and most importantly, the expert.

The terms of reference for an expert assign-ment are summarized in a job description whichserves as the base for recruitment. Upon receiptof a job description from the responsible projectofficer, the IAEA Experts Section approachessuitable candidates. This is done in accordancewith the various procedures requested by thesending and receiving governments and based onthe nature of the assignment. The sources in-volved in locating expert candidates to undertakeassignments in technical co-operation projectsmay differ from case to case. Main contributorsare the recipient country itself which has specificexperts in mind; the IAEA technical officerresponsible for a specific project, suggesting ex-perts or institutions in which experts could belocated; and the Experts Section's own roster ofexperts, a computerized file of more than 5000expert names and their field of expertise.

In the case of a candidate who has neverserved on an IAEA project before, his or hercurriculum vitae is sent to the relevant technicalofficer for evaluation and classification for theexperts roster. Suitable candidates are then sub-mitted to recipient countries for their approval,according to UNDP and government procedures.It is usually at this stage that the Experts Sectioninforms the recipient government of the dates onwhich the expert would be available to carry outthe proposed assignment.

Subject to official clearance by thegovernmental authorities concerned, or afterreceipt of such a clearance, depending on timeavailable to complete recruitment arrangements,the Experts Section makes an offer to the expert.This might include a modest honorarium for theservices to be delivered, as well as per diem ratesand travel expenses. At this stage, the expertreceives relevant information regarding visa andmedical requirements, as well as briefing andreporting instructions.

Once appropriate clearances have beenreceived and the offer is accepted by the expert,

a contract is prepared between the expert, or theexpert's permanent employer or sponsoring or-ganization, and the IAEA. There are severaltypes of contracts, depending on the function ofthe expert and the duty station. The averageduration of a contract is two weeks; few con-tracts are longer than one month. For projects ofa more lasting nature, 1-year contracts, with pos-sibility of extension, might be offered to someexperts.

Once the Experts Section has informed thelocal UNDP office and the counterparts of theexpert's travel and related itinerary, its majorwork is done. Now it is up to the expert and thecounterpart organization to make the mission asuccess. Due to the short contractual time, worktypically begins at once. Direct communicationbetween the expert and national counterpartsusually clarifies the objectives and work planbefore the trip begins. Both sides then can con-centrate on the work at hand as soon as the expertarrives. Often, one expert assignment can onlycover a small aspect of a technical co-operationproject. Team and follow-up missions are char-acteristic for larger projects which, in the end,might have a stronger impact on nationaldevelopment.

At the end of a mission, experts file a detailedreport with the IAEA. This helps assess theproject's progress, identifies problem areas, andrecommends action that needs to be considered.

Future directions

The IAEA's technical co-operationprogramme continually endeavors to strengthenits role as a catalyst and a vehicle for innovationin the provision of technical assistance, and toincrease its responsiveness to the evolving needsof the developing world. During the past 2 years,it has been focusing on a policy review to stressnuclear technology transfer at the national level.From past work, basic infrastructures have beencreated in many countries upon which nationaldevelopment can now build. In this context, thefurther development and strengthening of radia-tion protection laws and procedures will play amajor role. Additionally, model projects havebeen launched that are more closely orientedtowards national development plans and thepractical needs of end users.

Through these avenues and others for effec-tive technical co-operation, "experts withoutfrontiers" will continue to play a key role. Theystand to remain a basic component for the trans-fer of nuclear science and technology to develop-ing countries. d


TOPICAL REPORTS

Fellowships in nuclear science andtechnology: Applying the knowledgeNearly 1200 scientists, engineers, and specialists receive training

each year under IAEA-supported fellowships and scientific visits

Wver the past three decades, the combined,co-ordinated efforts of people in dozens ofcountries have been responsible for the selec-tion, placement, and training of more than 16 000engineers, scientists, specialists, and techniciansunder the IAEA's programme for fellowshipsand scientific visitors.

The numbers alone tell only part of the story.Many of these "alumni" of this co-operativetraining programme today are managing institu-tions and agencies in their home countrieswhere nuclear technologies are being used forpeaceful applications. Others are in senior posi-tions at international organizations, including theIAEA.

Since its initiation in 1958, the programmehas passed through various evolutionary stages.Training today is strongly oriented towards prac-tical learning related to the use of nuclear techni-ques rather than theoretical studies. Individualtraining for fellows, for example, is designed toprovide an in-depth understanding of a particulartechnology, whereas the training of scientificvisitors reflects the growing interest in the ap-plication and commercialization of appliednuclear technologies. The programme coverssuch subjects as physical and chemical sciences,the use of radioisotopes in marine biology andindustrial applications, nuclear power andsafety, radiation protection, agriculture, andhealth.

Over the past quarter century, donorcountries have financially supported — at a totalcost of more than US $ 120 million — the train-ing of fellows and scientific visitors from morethan 95 IAEA Member States.

Mr Colton is Head of the IAEA Fellowships and TrainingSection in the Department of Technical Co-operation. A morecomprehensive report on the programme is featured in the1994 edition of the IAEA Yearbook, available for purchasefrom the IAEA Division of Publications.

This article reviews the programme, from thestandpoint of its historical development, co-operative framework among nominating andhost countries, the selection criteria, and plansand expectations for the coming years.

Historical development and trends

Throughout the years, the experiencesgained by IAEA trainees have fostered the trans-fer of scientific and theoretical aspects of nucleartechnologies. As importantly, they have givenmanagerial and leadership support to their homeinstitutes and organizations. Interviews withhundreds of fellows and scientific visitors con-firm the fact that one of the most importantbenefits of the training is the practical aspect —to see how something is accomplished, and toapply that knowledge for the benefit of others.

One does not have to look far to findmanagers who once received IAEA supportduring their time of education and training. Alarge number of trainees have become seniorleaders in the national and international com-munities. Within the IAEA's own technical co-operation department, for example, a significantpercentage of Directors and Section Heads areformer IAEA fellows. Other IAEA technicaldepartments also have senior officers whoreceived technical training with the IAEA's as-sistance. Additionally, many heads of nationalatomic energy authorities and institutes havebenef i t t ed from the Agency ' s t ra in ingprogramme during their careers. Also interestingto note is that several members of the IAEABoard of Governors and their primary staffmembers are among the distinguished alumni ofthe fellowship and scientific visitors programme.

The programme has gone through variousstages of development. During the late 1950sand early 1960s, countries principally were in-terested in having individual scientists receive


by John P.Colton

55

TOPICAL REPORTS

Scenes fromIAEA-supported trainingof scientific fellows and

visitors. Training coversa range of nuclear

applications in fields ofelectricity production,food and agriculture,

health and medicine, andindustry and earth

sciences, for example.

NORTH AND LATIN AMERICA:1043/1396

North America: 0/898

Canada: 0/277United States: 0/621

Latin America: 1043/498

Argentina: 115/116Bolivia: 23/0Brazil: 137/116Chile: 86/45Colombia: 57/10Costa Rica: 31/10Cuba: 120/39Dominican Republic: 22/0Ecuador: 82/5El Salvador: 17/2Guatemala: 57/23Haiti: 1/0Honduras: 0/1Jamaica: 4/0Mexico: 101/94Nicaragua: 15/0Panama: 20/1Paraguay: 17/0Pen/: 62/1Uruguay: 31/23Venezuela: 45/12

ASIA AND PACIFIC: 1701/683

Bangladesh: 131/4C/iwa: 329/59Democratic People'sRepublic of Korea: 30/0India: 3/162Indonesia: 186/31./a/wzrc: 0/106Korea, Rep. of: 116/23Malaysia: 130/44Mongolia: 82/0Myanmar: 35/1/Vw Zealand: 0/5Pakistan: 149/39Philippines: 86/7Singapore: 11/0Sri Lanka: 49/1Thailand: 167/62UK (Hong Kong): 6/4Viet Nam: 191/1


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Regional Overview 1989-93:IAEA Fellowships and Scientific

Visitors

The tables on this and the facing page pro-vide a regional overview of the countries oforigin and the training sites of IAEA-supportedfellows and scientific visitors. The number ofIAEA fellowships and scientific visits placedfrom each country (i.e. where fellows and scien-tists came from) is in bold face. The number offellowships and scientific visits that eachcountry, or institution, hosted (i.e. where thetraining was provided) is in normal typeface.

All told dur ing the 1989-93 period,countries requested 4905 fellowships and scien-tific visits. During the same period, countrieshosted the training of 5835 fellows and scien-tific visitors. (The numbers are not equal forvarious reasons, such as the fact that scientificvisitors may average two to three visits in dif-ferent countries.)

The graphs below illustrate the respectiveshares by region. Evident is that developingcountries in a number of regions are hosting asignificant number of training sessions.

Where fellows came from(percent by region)

LatinAmerica

21%

Africa21%

WesternEurope

3%

EasternEurope

13%

Asia &Pacific34%

Where fellows were trained(percent by region)

Africa2%

Asia &Pacific12%

NorthAmerica

15%

WesternEurope38%

EasternEurope

12%

WESTERN EUROPE: 138/2940

Austria: 0/126Belgium: 0/106Denmark: 0/57Finland: 0/53France: 0/343Germany: 0/460Greece: 29/23Iceland: 0/4Ireland: 2/4

Italy: W\~lMonaco: 0/7

Netherlands: 0/113NorwayvO/18Portugal: 24/9Spain: 1/120Sweden: 0/93Switzerland: 0/25Turkey: 82/7United Kingdom: 0/516European Nuclear

Research Centre: 0/36IAEA: 0/703

EASTERN EUROPE: 638/690

Albania: 56/0Belarus: 4/0Bulgaria: 150/15Croatia: 3/0Cyprus: 10/0Czechoslovakia

(former): 51/59Czech Republic: 10/0Former Yugoslav Republic

of Macedonia: 1/0

Germany (former GDR): 0/20Hungary: 79/257Poland: 101/140Romania: 127/4Russian Federation: 0/52Slovak Republic: 7/0Slovenia: 3/7Ukraine: 12/7USSR (former): 0/90Yugoslavia (former): 24/39

AFRICA: 1012/93

Algeria: 67/6Burkina Faso: 0/7Cameroon: 26/0Cote d'lvoire: 18/2Egypt: 158/47Ethiopia: 44/0Ghana: 67/5Kenya: 49/8Madagascar: 21/0Mali: 26/0Mauritius: 7/0Morocco: 79/4Namibia: 2/0

Niger: 23/1Nigeria: 134/2Senegal: 17/1Sierra Leone: 16/0South Africa: 0/5Sudan: 72/1Tunisia: 34/2Tanzania: 54/2Uganda: 24/0Zaire: 24/0Zambia: 39/0Zimbabwe: 11/0

MIDDLE EAST: 373/33

Afghanistan: 8/0Iran: 124/2Iraq: 19/0Israel: 0/20Jordan: 45/1Kuwait: 0/2Lebanon: 1/0

Libyan ArabJamahiriya: 83/0

Saudi Arabia: \SI\Syria: 76/1United Arab

Emirates: 1/01/0


TOPICAL REPORTS

academic training. Assistance was given to thosecountries who were creating a broad theoreticalbase in all scientific fields, but concentratingprimarily on nuclear power applications and thefuel cycle.

In the intervening three decades, national-needs and expectations have matured, andtoday's training programme focuses mainly onapplied technologies. This is in keeping withoverall IAEA policies requiring that its program-mes are closely tied to national goals and objec-tives. And rather than importing general nuclearexpertise, as used to be the case, countries noware interested in locally cultivating their own.

Significant modifications in the ways andmeans of implementing training also have takenplace. The application format used to be simplya personal history form including a statement asto the type of training being requested. Mostcandidates had even been accepted by the hostinstitutes before asking for IAEA assistance.Their own national nuclear authorities playedlittle or no role in the entire nomination andplacement process. Requests were reviewed by asmall group of IAEA staff members and awardedmainly on the merits of each candidate's per-sonal qualifications. In a few cases, the IAEAbecame involved with host countries, but in themajority of cases, the fellows were on their ownwhen it came to, for example, obtaining visas,making travel arrangements, or correspondingwith host institutes. Often, as they lacked institu-tional endorsement or support, the candidateshad no work position to return to and had to findjobs once they returned to their home country.

The greater emphasis on locally producedexpertise has helped to change this picture. Na-tional authorities now actively participate in thenomination process, determine the priorities oftraining and commit full support by salary con-tinuation and re-employment rights. The hostcountries respond faster to proposals for training,assist with visa requests, qualify and monitorhost institutes for adequacy and quality of train-ing, and arrange most of the administrative sup-port. The IAEA, for its part, has developed newprocedures for review, evaluation, selection,placement, and training support. These modifiedprocedures and support mechanisms assist theIAEA in implementing its goals of meeting therequesting country's needs in a timely, cost ef-fective, and quality manner.

The IAEA technical co-operation process.The placement of fellowships and scientificvisitors is part of the IAEA's overall process ofproviding technical assistance to developingcountries. The IAEA responds to national re-quests for training assistance on a 2-year cycle.The requests are submitted by governmental

authorities in the form of a technical co-opera-tion project. The project document is reviewedand evaluated by the IAEA's Division of Tech-nical Co-operation Programmes in consultationwith technical officers (specialists in the technol-ogy) and the Division of Technical Co-operationImplementation (specialists in equipment pur-chase, placement of fellows and scientificvisitors, and contracting experts). Recom-mended projects are submitted to the Board ofGovernors for approval following a review bythe Board's Technical Assistance and Co-opera-tion Committee. Once it approves the 2-yearcycle programme, the Board authorizes projectfunding on an annual basis (i.e., the programmefor 1993-94 has funds approved in December1993 for 1994). The project normally consists ofrequests for expert services, equipment pur-chases, fellowships and scientific visitors, andtraining courses.

For the 1995-96 programme cycle, ap-proximately 1000 new project requests weresubmitted, and it can be expected that about halfof them will be approved. The component forfellowships and scientific visits normally repre-sents about 20% to 25% of the total resourcesallocated to the project. For 1994, this com-ponent was budgeted at more than US $18 mil-lion including approximately US $8 million car-ried over from prior years. More funds typicallyare available because of the continuing nature offellowship training and the possibility of carry-ing over funds.

Fellowships and scientific visitors:Selection and training

Support supplied through the IAEA' s tech-nical co-operation training programme hasplayed a key role in advancing the peaceful ap-plications of the atom. Training normally takesthe form of attendance at academic institutions,participation in research groups, on-the-jobtraining in a specific technology, short visits toresearch facilities, or combinations of these. Thehost countries and their institutes are thus in-tegral to the process of technology transfer.

Placement of fellows and scientists was rela-tively easy during the IAEA's early years, whenmost requests were for advanced universitystudies. The maturing of research and industrialinstitutions in developing countries, however,has shifted emphasis towards more specializedpractical training. This interest in applied tech-nology is seldom matched by existing universitycourses and therefore special arrangements haveto be made with host institutions. While this hasmade placement more difficult and time con-


TOPICAL REPORTS

suming, the end result is that training becomesmore valuable in terms of technology transfer.

Selection criteria. Applicants to the IAEA'sfellowship programme must be well qualifiedand motivated. In addition, the IAEA evaluatesapplications to ensure that the objectives of thetraining are clearly identified; the type of train-ing being sought is explained and that proposedhost institutes are identified; the national sup-porting commitments are stated; and, that boththe candidate and national authority assure thatthe benefits of the training will be implementedwithin the requesting country. An additional fac-tor is language certification. Experience hasshown that in approximately one-third of allcases, language is the major limitation to suc-cessful training. Language capability is so im-portant that many countries have established theirown minimum language levels which must be metbefore they will accept training candidates.

During the review, selection, and placementprocess, about 40% of the candidates will not beselected or will be withdrawn from the process.Typically, this is because requirements have notbeen met, the status of the applicant has changed,or a suitable host country has not been found.Main specific reasons include the lack of profes-sional or language skills; equivalent training isavailable in the home country; the requests arenot related to a technical co-operationprogramme; and, the request is outside of theAgency's sphere of responsibility.

Not surprisingly, communication has be-come increasingly important in the selectionprocess in light of improved telecommunicationscapabilities. This fact elevates the nominatingcountry's role, since it must monitor the status ofits applicants to keep the IAEA promptly andproperly informed, and to prevent time andresources from being wasted. Much effort, forexample, has been expended in the past on plac-ing some candidates, only to find out later thatthey were either no longer available for training,had accepted other opportunities, or had changedprofessional positions.

The requesting authorities and the fellow arenotified as soon as the fellowship is awarded andagain when an acceptable host institution indi-cates that it is prepared to supply the requestedtraining. The IAEA then sends a letter of ap-pointment to the candidate, providing informa-tion on the proposed study programme and otherdetails concerning the stipend, allowances, andinsurance coverage, for instance. Also sent isguidance concerning travel and visa arrange-ments and preparing for the stay in the hostcountry.

Overall the time span between the IAEA'sreceipt of a nomination and the placement offer

has been shortened considerably. The averagetime from receipt of the application until award,subject to successful placement of the fellow-ship is about two to three months, down fromeight months in 1990. Placement negotiationswith host countries are averaging four months,down from six in 1990. Thus, the average timefrom the receipt of the application until the startof training is approximately 10 months, sig-nificantly below the average 18 months in 1990.

Developing countries as hosts. Increasingly,developing countries are serving as the hosts forfellowship training and scientific visits. A num-ber of these countries have established the tech-nological base needed to supply quality training.Often, the training can be done at lower costs.Additionally, the training conditions in develop-ing countries are frequently more representativeof those in the trainee's home institute.

Future plans and expectations

By the year 2000, an estimated 100 IAEAMember States are expected to request technicalassistance, including fellowships and scientificvisits. In 1958, just after the IAEA came intobeing, only 11 countries received technical assis-tance. Today, 85 countries do.

Given the projected growth of requests, thenumber of IAEA fellows and scientific visitorsthat are trained each year should increase tobetween 1400 and 1600 by the end of thisdecade. If these projections hold, they will pushthe total number of IAEA-trained fellows andscientists to more than 25 000 by the year 2000.The type of training offered will remainpredominately short and intense, and include ap-plied on-the-job training. Advanced academictraining will continue to be made available forthose from lesser developed countries wherethere is a need to establish a firm base of humanresources in support of technological develop-ment.

If past is prologue, the IAEA's support oftraining opportunities for scientists, engineers,specialists, and technicians from developingcountries will remain a valuable component ofefforts to effectively transfer the atom's manypeaceful applications. In the process, it will helpdevelop a good many of tomorrow's national andinternational leaders in the nuclear field. O


INTERNATIONAL

IAEA Board ofGovernors

meetings

NEWSBRIEFS.

At its meetings in early December 1994, theIAEA Board of Governors considered mattersrelated to the Agency' s technical assistance andco-operation programme for 1995-96:safeguards; illicit trafficking of nuclearmaterial (see related item, page 61); andradioactive waste management.

Safeguards in the DPRK. On 11 Novem-ber, the Board met in special session regardingthe implementation of safeguards in theDemocratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK). The meeting was in response todevelopments related to the agreed frameworkthat was signed 21 October 1994 in Genevabetween the United States and the DPRK.

The Board authorized the IAEA Secretariatto act upon the UN Security Council request tothe Agency concerning inspections in theDPRK, including monitoring the freeze of itsgraphite-moderated reactors and relatedfacilities. The request was contained in a state-ment of the President of the UN Security

Council on 4 November 1994. The Board fur-ther welcomed the fact that the DPRK will-remain in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferationof Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and that it willcome into full compliance with the IAEA-DPRK safeguards agreement.

IAEA inspectors remain at the DPRK'snuclear complex at Nyongbyon. In mid-November, an IAEA technical team visited theDPRK for discussions with authorities thereregarding the verification measures that areneeded in accordance with established IAEApractices.

Technical co-operation. At its Decembermeetings, the Board received a report from itsTechnical Assistance and Co-operation Com-mittee on the provision of technical assistanceto be undertaken during the 1995-96 period.The proposed programme covers assistance tomore than 80 countries, as well as regional andinterregional projects.

IAEA Director The years 1995 and beyond will hold newGeneral sees tasks for the IAEA, in the view of the Agency's

new tasks Director General Dr. Hans Blix.ahead In addressing the 49th General Assembly of

the United Nations in New York on 17 October1994, IAEA Director General Hans Blix saidthat new expectations and demands for bothverification and safety-related services arebeing placed upon the Agency in response toglobal nuclear developments.

Dr. Blix noted that, in the context of theconference in April/May 1995 to review andextend the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation ofNuclear Weapons (NPT), the IAEA wouldpresent detailed reports about the way in whichit is strengthening its safeguards verificationsystem. He said the IAEA will also report to theNPT Conference on its activities in support ofthe transfer of nuclear science and technologyfor peaceful purposes. In the safeguards field,the Director General cited several importantdevelopments which call for expansion ofIAEA activities, including the successfulnegotiation of comprehensive safeguardsagreements with States of the former USSR.

Among the new verification activities forthe IAEA, Dr. Blix noted that the United Stateshas begun a process for the eventual submissionto IAEA inspection of all US fissile material nolonger needed for defense purposes. He alsosaid the IAEA has set up a working group to

examine relevant issues related to the proposedcut-off agreement for the production of highlyenriched uranium and plutonium for weaponspurposes. He further pointed out the IAEA'stechnical advisory role regarding futureverification arrangements for a ComprehensiveTest Ban Treaty. New expectations in the inter-national community further are leading towarda stronger global legal framework for the safedevelopment of nuclear energy, Dr. Blix said.He noted that governments recently haveadopted the International Convention onNuclear Safety; that the IAEA Board of Gover-nors earlier this month adopted new interna-tional basic radiation safety standards; and thatconsensus exists for a convention on the safemanagement and disposal of radioactive waste.He also described significant changes in theorientation of the IAEA's programmes fortransferring nuclear science and technology.

In addition to his statement at the UnitedNations, Dr. Blix addressed a number of distin-guished audiences in September and October1994: the Council on Foreign Relations inWashington, DC; the Congress of the EuropeanNuclear Society in Lyon, France; and the 38thregular session of the IAEA General Con-ference in Vienna, Austria.

Copies of the Director General's statementsare available from the IAEA Division of PublicInformation.


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A group of some 96 experts from 46 countriesand three international organizations attendeda meeting to discuss measures against illicittrafficking of nuclear material and radioactivesources 2-3 November 1994 in Vienna.

The experts voiced widespread support forthe IAEA to intensify its activities and to ex-amine in detail additional actions at the inter-national level. The meeting was called byIAEA Director General Hans Blix in responseto a resolution of the IAEA General Con-ference. (See related item on page 63.)

The meeting shed much light on the issueof illegal trafficking of nuclear materials andradioactive sources. While confirming that theprimary responsibility for preventing andresponsing to such events rests with the govern-ments concerned, the meeting urged that prac-tical and effective complementary measures be

taken at the international level — particularlyby and through the IAEA — to address theproblem of illicit trafficking.

Trafficking must first be combatted at itssource, the experts noted. They proposed areaswhere the IAEA could intensify its activities.These included a number of measures to helpStates improve their national systems of ac-countancy and control and their systems ofphysical protection of these materials, and todevelop a reliable base of information on inci-dents to assist decision makers and to betterinform the public.

Taking into account the comments, sugges-tions, and proposals put forward and reviewedat the experts meeting, the IAEA Secretariatpresented recommendations for action to theIAEA Board of Governors at its December1994 session.

Expertsmeeting onIllicit nucleartrafficking

The European Atomic Forum has presented its1994 Foratom Award to IAEA DirectorGeneral Hans Blix. The Award, which wasestablished in 1978, is presented every 4 yearsto individuals who have made major contribu-tions to peaceful uses of atomic energy inEurope and the world at large. It was presentedto Dr. Blix on 4 October 1994 at the Congressof the European Nuclear Society in Lyon,France, by Dr. Bill Wilkinson, President of theEuropean Atomic Forum.

In presenting the Award, Dr. Wilkinsonpaid tribute to Dr. Blix's "courageous and ef-fective advocacy of nuclear power as an en-vironmentally benign source of electricity." Healso commended him for the political impar-tiality, administrative and diplomatic skills, andability to secure trust among national leaders.In his acceptance remarks, Dr. Blix thanked Dr.

Wilkinson warmly for the honour representedby the Award, which he accepted not just per-sonally but on behalf of the IAEA staff whoworked with him in pursuit of the Agency'sgoals. He said he remained profoundly con-vinced of the many benefits for humanity ofnuclear energy's versatile peaceful applica-tions, including power generation. He stressedthe increasing relevance of the internationaldimensions of the use of nuclear energy — theneed for international verification of the peace-ful nature of nuclear installations and the needfor international rules and services to comple-ment national measures to ensure safety in theuse of nuclear power. In expressing confidenceabout nuclear power's future, he said that theadvantages of nuclear power as a valuable partof the overall energy mix would becomeincreasingly apparent.

IAEA DirectorGeneral Blixhonoured

More than 50 countries have signed the Inter-national Convention on Nuclear Safety since itopened for signature in September 1994, withone, Norway, already depositing its instrument ofratification with the IAEA. The Convention—thefirst legal instrument that directly addresses theissue of safety of nuclear power plants worldwide— opened for signature on 20 September 1994at the IAEA General Conference in Vienna.

The Convention applies to land-basedcivil nuclear power plants and obliges Con-tracting Parties to establish and maintain

proper legislative and regulatory frameworks togovern safety. Through the Convention, Statescommit themselves to the application of fun-damental safety principles for nuclear installa-tions, and agree to participate in periodic peerreview meetings to submit national reports onimplementation of their obligations.

The Convention will remain open for signa-ture at IAEA headquarters until its entry intoforce. This will be on the 90th day after thetwenty-second instrument of ratification isdeposited with the IAEA, which is the

Internationalconvention onnuclear safety


.INTERNATIONAL NEWSBRI EPS

Depositary of the Convention, including theinstruments of 17 States that each have at leastone nuclear installation which has achievedcriticality in a reactor core.

Fifty-two countries have signed the Con-vention as of 15 November 1994. They areAlgeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia,Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada,Chile, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark,

Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy,Japan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg,Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Nor-way, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Por-tugal, Romania, Russian Federation, SlovakRepublic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain,Sudan, Syria, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Uk-raine, United Kingdom, and United States.

Nucleartechniques in

agriculture

Scientists engaged in agricultural and environ-mental research around the world met in Vien-na 17-21 October 1994 at the InternationalSymposium on Nuclear and Related Techni-ques in Soil Studies on Sustainable Agricultureand Environmental Preservation. The sym-posium was jointly organized by the IAEA andFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ofthe United Nations and took place at a timewhen the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear

Techniques in Food and Agriculture marked its30th anniversary of service.

The symposium featured studies onsoil/plant relationships in sustainable agricul-tural systems and research associated with en-vironmental pollution problems. Specific tech-nical topics included soil fertility, plant nutri-tion, water management, crop production, andenvironmental aspects related to nutrient andwater management in crop production studies.

A ground breaking ceremony forconstruction of the new Clean

Laboratory for Safeguards was held14 October 1994 at the IAEA

Laboratories in Seibersdorf, Austria.The Clean Laboratory, which is

expected to be operational in late1995, will be specifically dedicated to

the analysis of environmentalsamples and measurements for

safeguards purposes. Funding for thefacility includes an extrabudgetary

contribution from the United States ofUS $1.5 million. Participating in the

ceremony were US Ambassador JohnPitch III (top photo, centre); Mr. Bruno

Pellaud, IAEA Deputy DirectorGeneral for Safeguards i third from

left); Mr. Sueo Machi, IAEA DeputyDirector General for Research and

Isotopes (second from left); Mr. WimBreur, Director of the IAEA Division

of General Services (left); Mr. PierDanesi, Director of the IAEA's

Laboratories at Seibersdorf (secondfrom right); and Mr. Stein Deron, Head

of the Safeguards Analytical


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High-level governmental representatives, in-cluding 20 ministers from 100 Member Statesof the IAEA, attended the 38th regular sessionof the IAEA General Conference 19-23 Sep-tember 1994 in Vienna. Delegates elected asPresident of the Conference Professor AlecJean Baer of Switzerland. Actions were takenin a number of key areas of global nucleardevelopment. Topics addressed included thoserelated to:

IAEA safeguards in the DPRK. Express-ing their "continuing concern" over theDPRK's non-compliance with its safeguardsagreement with the IAEA, Member Statesadopted a resolution urging the DPRK to co-operate immediately with the Agency in the fullimplementation of the agreement and to allowthe IAEA to have access to all safeguards-relevant information and locations. It furtherstrongly endorsed actions taken by the IAEABoard of Governors and IAEA DirectorGeneral Hans Blix for their impartial efforts toimplement the safeguards agreement. (Also seeBoard item, page 60.)

Monitoring and verification in Iraq. TheConference adopted a resolution that stresses theneed for Iraq to co-operate fully with the IAEA inachieving complete and long-term implementa-tion of UN Security Council Resolutions relatingto Iraq. It notes that the IAEA, having completedthe destruction of the Iraqi nuclear weaponscapability, is now in a position to implement itsongoing monitoring and verification plan, andthat the IAEA retains the right to investigatefurther any aspects of Iraq' s past nuclear weaponsprogramme, in particular as regards any newinformation obtained by the IAEA and as-sessed as warranting further investigations.

IAEA safeguards system. Pointing towardsthe 1995 Conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) andthe IAEA's essent ial role in app ly ingsafeguards under that Treaty and under regionalnuclear-weapon-free zones (in Latin Americaand the South Pacific), Member States adopteda resolution on strengthening the IAEA'ssafeguards system. It expresses the convictionthat IAEA safeguards can promote further con-fidence among States and thereby help tostrengthen their collective security, and it un-derlines the central importance of effectivesafeguards for the prevention of nuclearenergy's misuse for non-peaceful purposes andfor the promotion of co-operation in its peace-ful uses. It specifically requests the IAEADirector General to continue with the assess-

ment, development, and, on a voluntary basis,the testing of measures for achieving astrengthened and more cost-efficient safeguardssystem, and to present to the IAEA Board ofGovernors in March 1995 proposals toward thatend, together with an evaluation of their technical,legal, and financial implications.

Measures against illicit trafficking innuclear materials. Expressing its deep concernover reports of illicit trafficking and its supportfor greater preventive measures, the GeneralConference adopted a resolution that invitedIAEA Director General Hans Blix to take anumber of actions to intensify the IAEA's ac-tivities supporting Member States in this area.They include establishing and upgrading na-tional systems of nuclear material accountingand control; examining additional optionsavailable in the field of collecting, verifying,and analyzing data relating to incidents of illicittrafficking and the field of physical protectionin conformity with the Agency's Statute; andpreparing proposals in consultation with agroup of experts designated by Member Statesand competent international organizations forconsideration by the IAEA Board of Gover-nors. (Also see the item on trafficking on page 61.)

African nuclear-weapon-free zone. Wel-coming the progress made towards the con-clusion of a treaty on an African Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone, the Conference adopted aresolution commending the African States fortheir efforts and requesting the IAEA DirectorGeneral to continue to assist them in this regard.

\initli Africa's participation in IAEA ac-tivities. The Conference adopted a resolutioninviting South Africa to resume participation inall activities of the IAEA. It specifically re-quests the IAEA Board of Governors to reviewthe designation of South Africa to the Board.(As of 1977, South Africa was no longer thedesignated Member of the Board of Governorsfor the African Region). In taking the action,the General Conference particularly notedSouth Africa's dismantlement of its nuclear-weapons programme and its contribution to theevolution of an African Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone, and welcomed the new Government ofNational Unity as representative of all peoplesin the country.

Application of IAEA safeguards in theMiddle East. The Conference adopted a resolu-tion that calls upon all parties concerned toconsider seriously taking the practical and ap-propriate steps required for the implementationof the proposal to establish a mutually and

Highlights ofthe 1994 IAEAGeneralConference

Prof. Alec Jean Baerof Switzerland,elected President ofthe IAEA GeneralConference(Credit- Piuttctk, IAEA)


INTERNATIONAL NEWSBRIEFS,

effectively verifiable nuclear-weapon-free-zone (NWFZ) in the region, and invites allcountries concerned to adhere to internationalnon-proliferation regimes, including the Treatyon the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,as a means of complementing participation in azone free of all weapons of mass destruction inthe Middle East and of strengthening peace andsecurity in the region. It requests the IAEA'sDirector General to continue consultations withStates of the Middle East to facilitate the earlyapplication of full-scope Agency safeguards toall nuclear activities in the region as relevant tothe preparation of model agreements, as anecessary step towards the establishment of aNWFZ in the Middle East.

IAEA technical co-operation activities.The Conference adopted two resolutions in thisarea, one directed at strengthening technicalco-operation activities and the other at financ-ing technical assistance. The first resolutioninter alia requests the Agency's DirectorGeneral, in consultation with Member States,to present new initiatives to strengthen IAEAtechnical co-operation activities through thedevelopment of effective programmes aimed atimproving the scientific and technologicalcapabilities of developing countries in thefields of peaceful applications of nuclear ener-gy and achieving sustainable development. Thesecond resolution expresses concern about thedecline in pledges and payments to theAgency's Technical Assistance and Co-opera-tion Fund and requests the IAEA Board of

Governors to re-establish an informal workinggroup open to all Member States on the financ-ing of technical assistance.

Technical assistance in the Middle East.The Conference decided to restore technicalassistance to Israel and expressed its wish forcloser co-operation between the IAEA and Is-rael in Agency activities in accordance with theAgency's Statute and objectives. (Theprovision of technical assistance to Israel by theAgency has been suspended since 1981 pur-suant to a General Conference resolution.) Ad-ditionally, the General Conference, consistentwith the Cairo Agreement of 4 May 1994 be-tween the PLO and Israel, mandated theAgency's Board of Governors to identify,through its Technical Assistance Committee,technical assistance projects that could be im-plemented in the territories under the jurisdic-tion of the Palestinian Authority through ap-propriate international organizations.

Radioactive waste management. MemberStates adopted a resolution that stresses thevital necessity for the IAEA to continue topromote, co-ordinate, and strengthen interna-tional co-operation in the field of radioactivewaste management. It specifically invites theIAEA Board of Governors and the DirectorGeneral to start preparations for an internation-al convention on the safety of waste manage-ment, and to continue the process of collectingrelevant background information that would beuseful in drafting the convention. It further callsfor increased IAEA activities that assist Member

Dr. Chidambaram ofIndia, the Chairman

of the IAEA Board ofGovernors for

1994-95(Credit: Pavlicek. IAEA)

IAEA Board of Governors for 1994-95

The IAEA's newly constituted Board of Governors for 1994-95 has elected the Governorfrom India, Dr. R. Chidambaram as Chairman succeeding Ambassador Ronald AlfredWalker from Australia. Dr. Chidambaram is Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commis-sion. His distinguished record of service also presently includes Chairmanship of the NuclearPower Corporation of India Ltd. and of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute ofTechnology. Vice-Presidency of the Indian Academy of Sciences, and Honorary Professor-ship in the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research.

Elected Vice Chairmen were Mr. Yal?in Sanalan, President of Turkey's National AtomicEnergy Authority and Mr. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Shteinberg, Chairman of the UkrainianState Committee on Nuclear and Radiation Safety.

The 35 Member States on the Board for 1994-95 are Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil,Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, India,Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Rus-sian Federation, Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine,United Kingdom, United States, and Uruguay.


.INTERNATIONAL NEWSBRIEFS

States, particularly developing countries, instrengthening waste management infrastructuresand to consider further measures for enhancingglobal co-operation, including assessment ofthe impact of land and sea disposal of wastes.

Water resources and production. Tworesolutions were adopted relating to thisgeneral subject. One resolution is directed at aplan for producing potable water economically.Noting the interest of a number of States inactivities relating to seawater desalinationusing nuclear energy, and the conclusion of anadvisory group on the need to establish aprogramme for identifying options and select-ing demonstration facilities, the resolution callsupon Member States in a position to do so toprovide expert services and extrabudgetaryresources in support of these activities. It furtherrequests the Director General to consult withinterested States, and relevant international or-ganizations in and outside the United Nationsfamily, concerning desalination. The secondresolution addresses the extensive use of isotopehydrology for water resources management,especially recognizing its valuable role in study-

At the IAEA General Conference, a special exhibithelped commemorate the 30th anniversary of the JointFAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food andAgriculture. Scientists M. Maluszynski and J. Richards

(left) briefed IAEA Director General Hans Blix (center)and FAO Director General J. Diouf (third from right). Alsoattending were Mr. B Sigurbjoernsson, Director of the

Joint Division (second from right) and Mr. Sueo Machi,IAEA Deputy Director for Research and Isotopes.

iCredil Ptvlicek. IAC4i

ing processes related to groundwater recharge,water salination. seepage, and water pollution,for example. It requests the Director General todirect the IAEA's available expertise andresources to a few concrete and cogent projectsthat would result in a visible impact in im-proved water resources management throughisotope techniques, and urges the IAEA to workin conjunction with other concerned interna-tional organizations and solicit their co-opera-tion in such projects.

IAEA budget and extrabudgetary resour-ces for 1995. The adopted resolution approvesexpenditures for 1995 of US $211.5 million.This represents zero growth in real terms. TheConference further approved the target amountof US $61.5 million for the IAEA TechnicalAssistance and Co-operation Fund for 1995.

Staffing of the IAEA Secretariat. Tworesolutions were adopted. One resolution, intaking note of ongoing efforts, requests theDirector General with the assistance of Mem-ber States to increase the number of staff mem-bers from developing countries, particularly atthe senior and policy-making levels. The otherrequests the Director General to continue ef-forts to rectify the existing imbalance in therepresentation of women in the professionaland higher categories, particularly at the seniorand policy-making levels, as well as in postsrequiring scientific and technical qualifica-tions, and from developing countries.

Nuclear safety and radiological protection.The General Conference also took note of a


INTERNATIONAL NEWSBRIEFS-

Airtransportof radioactive

materials

Radiationtechnologiesin health care

number of reports on IAEA activities forstrengthening nuclear safety and radiologicalprotection. The measures include those relatedto the implementation of international conven-tions, including the International Conventionon Nuclear Safety which opened for signatureduring the General Conference; provision ofsafety services; preparation of safety standards,including the newly adopted Basic SafetyStandards for Protection Against Ionizing

Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sour-ces; promotion of education and training;provision of technical assistance relatingspecifically to the safety of nuclear powerplants in countries of Eastern Europe and theformer Soviet Union; and safety principles forfuture nuclear power plants. Additionally, thework includes consideration by a StandingCommittee of matters related to liability fornuclear damage.

Experts from 17 IAEA Member States andthree international organizations recently metin Vienna on proposed regulatory provisionsfor certain types of radioactive materials in airtransport. They specifically reviewed a drafttechnical document for use in developingregulatory provisions for a new type of packagewhich will be required for air transport ofradioactive materials in excess of certainthreshold quantities. The provisions are in-tended for inclusion in the 1996 revised editionof the IAEA Regulations for the Safe Transportof Radioactive Materials.

The meeting reached consensus on most ofthe proposed test requirements for the newpackages, to be known as Type C. These testsinclude an impact test with an impact velocityof not less than 85 meters per second (mostaircraft crashes have generally lower impactspeeds than the proposed test criterion); a firetest at a temperature of 800 degrees Celsius fora period of one hour; a 200-metre immersion

test designed to enable retrieval of the packagefrom coastal waters or continental shelves; apuncture/tearing test; and a crush test. Theproposed test criteria are partly supplementaryand in every case more stringent than those ofother existing package designs, taking into ac-count the different and more severe environ-ment of mechanical and thermal forces inaircraft crashes.

The IAEA's Regulations for the SafeTransport of Radioactive Materials have longbeen the basis for regulating national and inter-national road, rail, air, and water shipments ofradioactive material. They are subject to a con-tinuous review and revision process to identifyareas that can be further improved. In the caseof air transport, the review process is designedto limit the probability of serious radiologicalconsequences of accidents involving aircraftcarrying packages of radioactive materials; tofacilitate planning; and to ensure packagerecovery.

As more countries use ionizing radiation forsterilizing tissues, blood, and other medicalproducts, the need to pool internationalknowledge about the technology is becomingincreasingly clear. At the 3rd European Con-ference on Tissue Banking and Clinical Ap-plication of Grafts, specialists in the field ex-plored legal and ethical aspects, as well asquestions of standardization and quality as-surance. The conference was organized inVienna 4-7 October 1994 by the European As-sociation of Tissue Banks (EATB) in co-opera-tion with the IAEA, and with the AmericanAssociation of Tissue Banks and Asia-PacificAssociation of Surgical Tissue Banking.

Scientific sessions focused on a range oftechnical topics, as well as on general standardsfor tissue banking and ethical rules that have

been proposed by EATB in the interests ofharmonization within Europe. Also presentedwas an overview of the IAEA's programme onradiation sterilization of tissues. Theprogramme has led to the establishment of tis-sue banks in 13 countries in Asia and the Pacificregion, and other banks now are emerging inAfrica and South America. To further promoteprogress, the IAEA has harnessed the support ofmajor world associations involved with the tech-nology. Other applications reviewed at the con-ference included the use of radiation tech-nologies for sterilizing packaged medical sup-plies and related products. Worldwide, morethan 40% of these products presently are beingsterilized using radiation technology, it wasreported, with 180 gamma irradiators and about20 electron beam accelerators in service.


INTERNATIONAL NEWSBRIEFS.

Safety, engineering, and environmentalaspects of spent fuel storage were reviewed atan IAEA international symposium 10-14 Oc-tober 1994 in Vienna. The symposium includedreviews of national approaches to the safestorage of spent fuel; selection of differentspent fuel storage technologies; and design,planning, and siting of storage facilities. Thetotal amount of spent fuel accumulatedworldwide at the end of 1993 was 140 thousandtonnes heavy metals (tHM) and projections in-dicate the amount may reach 330 thousand tHMby the year 2010. Considering that part of it willbe reprocessed, the amount to be stored by 2010would be about 215 thousand tHM, or morethan twice as much as is now in storage

worldwide. Storage problems necessarily aretaking on greater urgency in a number ofcountries.

Spent fuel can be safely stored for long timeperiods, and some spent fuel now has been insafe storage for more than 30 years in somecountries. The symposium reaffirmed thescientific consensus that present technologiesfor spent fuel storage give adequate protectionto the population and the environment, and thecontinuing interest in studying whether furtherreductions in risk and greater radiologicalsafety can be achieved. More than 120 par-ticipants from 34 countries and four interna-tional organizations attended the symposium.

Symposiumon spent fuelstorage

A major international conference on radiationand society took place in Paris in late October1994. The week-long conference was or-ganized by the IAEA at the invitation of Franceand with support from the French Institute forProtection and Nuclear Safety (IPSN). Ses-sions took place at the new conference centreat the Louvre.

The conference drew the interest and par-ticipation of some 400 policy makers, nuclearexperts, and the media from 51 countries andnine international organizations. Participantsexamined a number of case studies includingthe nuclear weapons legacy, cancer andleukaemia clusters, radioactive waste disposaland the environment, and Chernobyl healtheffects. They further examined various aspects

of the interplay between experts advice, publicand media perceptions, and the decision-making process.

Technical sessions covered various topics,including assessment of radiation exposurelevels; assessment of radiation health effects;impact of radiation on the environment; percep-tion of radiation risk; and managing radiationrisk. Fora for the media and policy makersparticularly looked at communication aspectsof radiation risk, including discussions of con-troversial case studies.

More information may be obtained from theIAEA Division of Nuclear Safety or from thecommunication service of IPSN in Paris,France (telephone 33-1-46-5486-38, or fac-simile 33-1-46-5484-51).

Conferenceon radiationand society

Representatives from IAEA Member Stateswere recently briefed on the status of theprogramme for strengthening radiation protec-tion, nuclear safety, and radioactive wastemanagement infrastructures in countries of theformer USSR. The programme was launched in1993 as a joint phased initiative between theIAEA and the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) for information exchange,preparation of country assistance packages, andtheir implementation.

The programme is now in its second phaseand the briefing focused on assistance packageswhich have been developed for eight countriesof the former USSR, namely Belarus, Estonia,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania,Moldova, and Uzbekistan. The country assis-

tance packages are based on informationgathered to date from the forum held from 4-7May 1993 in Vienna and from expert missionsand input from local experts. They are aimed atstrengthening these countries' legislative andregulatory frameworks; enhancing theirregulatory and operational performance;strengthening their capacity for the mobiliza-tion and management of external resources; andfostering public awareness and confidence.

Additional financial resources are nowbeing sought to bring the programme into theimplementation phase. More information maybe obtained from the IAEA Division of NuclearSafety.

Strengtheningradiationprotectioninfrastructures


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Croatia: Collaboration with IAEA

The IAEA has inaugurated the Laboratory forNuclear Microanalysis at the Institute RuderBoskovic in Croatia as one of its collaboratinglaboratories in the field of accelerator-basedanalytical techniques. This enables the IAEA toprovide advanced analytical services and train-ing, particularly in connection with a numberof its programmes.

In Croatia, a beamline analytical facility hasbeen constructed and installed on the existingVan de Graaf accelerator. The collaborationprovides for the IAEA's cost-free use of themachine, together with supporting facilitiessuch as sample preparation and an electroniclaboratory. It further covers the protonmicroprobe, installed on the same acceleratorand used for elemental concentration mappingon a micrometer scale. The beamline facilitycan also be used to provide advanced analyticalservices to scientists from IAEA MemberStates and their institutions. In addition, train-ing and maintenance of accelerator equipmentcan be provided for developing countries pos-sessing accelerator facilities. Applications in-clude air pollution analysis and multi-elemen-tal analysis of environmental samples; medicaland biological applications; solid state andmaterial analysis; and agriculture studies.

Argentina: Nuclear training course

Argentina hosted an IAEA interregional train-ing course from 31 October to 2 December1994 on quality assurace for nuclear powerplant operations. Thirty participants from 12countries attended. The training courseprovided participants with information on cur-rent methods and techniques that help in theattainment of safety and reliability of nuclearpower plants. Lectures were provided by ex-perts from Argentina, France, Mexico, Spain,United Kingdom, United States, and the IAEA.

Ukraine: Safeguards agreement signed

A comprehensive safeguards agreement be-tween the IAEA and Ukraine was signed at theAgency's headquarters on 28 September 1994.The agreement was signed on behalf of theIAEA by Director General Hans Blix and onbehalf of Ukraine by Mr. Nikolai A. Shtein-berg, Chairman of the Ukrainian State Commit-tee on Nuclear and Radiation Safety. Thesafeguards agreement was approved by the

IAEA Board of Governors in September 1994.It covers all nuclear material in all peacefulnuclear activities within the territory of Uk-raine, under its jurisdiction or carried out underits control anywhere. The agreement will enterinto force upon the IAEA's receipt of writtennotification by Ukraine that Ukraine'sstatutoryand constitutional requirements have beencompleted. The agreement .would remain inforce until superseded by an agreement be-tween Ukraine and the Agency for the applica-tion of safeguards in connection with the Treatyon the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons(NPT).

Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs hadinformed the IAEA in September 1992 ofUkraine's intention to adhere to the NPT as anon-nuclear-weapon State. Since that time, theIAEA has taken a number of measures neces-sary for the application of NPT safeguards inUkraine, including technical visits conductedwith a view to performing verification activitiessimilar to those provided in NPT-typesafeguards agreements. On 16 November 1994,the Ukrainian parliament voted to sign the NPT.

Yemen: New member of IAEA

The Republic of Yemen became a new mem-ber of the IAEA on 14October 1994 by deposit-ing its instrument of acceptance of theStatute.Yemen's application for membershiphad been approved by the IAEA General Con-ference in 1991. As of November 1994, theIAEA had 122 Member States.

Kazakhstan: HEU transfer to USA

The IAEA was informed in late November1994 that a quantity of highly enriched uraniumwas moved from Kazakhstan to the UnitedStates where it will be subject to IAEAsafeguards inspection. The IAEA was informedin advance of the transfer. Kazakhstan is a partyto the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation ofNuclear Weapons (NPT) and as such has signeda safeguards agreement with the IAEA whichwill provide for inspections.

Italy and China: ICTP Prize awardedto Chinese scientist

The International Institute for TheoreticalPhysics in Trieste, Italy, has awarded its 1994ICTP Prize in the fields of mathematics, nuclearphysics, plasma physics, and other fields of


. NATIONAL UPDATES

physics to Dr. Chao-Jiang Xu from WuhunUniversity in China. The Prize consists of amedal, a diploma, and US SI000. ICTP Prizesare awarded annually in recognition of out-standing and original contributions withinmathematics and physics. Candidates must benationals of developing countries, working andliving in developing countries.

The ICTP also has announced that informa-tion about its activities now is available overcomputer lines. Users of electronic mail, forexample, should send a message [email protected]. The ICTP's conventionalpostal address, for those who prefer to write aletter, is P.O. Box 586, 34100 Trieste, Italy.

Canada: ASTM international workshop

Quebec will be the site of the third internation-al workshop on dosimetry for radiationprocessing, being organized from 1-6 October1995 by the American Society for Testing andMaterials (ASTM). The workshop includeshands-on sessions at the Canadian IrradiationCentre and lectures by internationally recog-nized experts in the field. Participants are ex-pected to include irradiator operators, qualityassurance personnel, researchers, dosimetersuppliers, medical device manufacturers, andfood processors. More information may be ob-tained from Mr. John Rickey, Far West Tech-nology. Inc., 330 D S. Kellogg, Goleta, CA93117 USA. Fax: 805-964-3162.

Japan: Radiotherapy seminar

Scientists in Japan have started clinical ap-plications of the world's first heavy-ion ac-celerator, called HIMAC. dedicated for medi-cal uses, specifically radiotherapy of cancer.

S c i e n t i f i c repor ts tha t h i g h l i g h t e dHIMAC's development and clinical use werepresented in November 1994 at the Internation-al Seminar on Applications of Heavy Ion Ac-celerators to Radiation Therapy of Cancer. Theseminar -- which was attended by 160specialists from 19 countries — was organizedin co-operation with the IAEA by the NationalInstitute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) inChiba. Japan. In parallel with the seminar, theIAEA held a consultants' meeting to obtainrecommendations regarding its future activitiesconcerning the application of heavy chargedparticles in cancer treatment.

Technical sessions at the seminar coveredtopics related to particle radiotherapy of cancer;

beam delivery of the irradiation system andradiation dosimetry; treatment planning: therole of experimental biology for radiationtherapy; and clinical results and protocols forthe treatment of specified human tumours. Par-ticular emphasis was placed on the design offuture facilities for heavy charged particleradiotherapy. Participants underscored theneed for enhanced international co-operation inthe field. Areas where greater co-operativework is needed include research on the physicsand biology of heavy charged particles, and theintercomparison of clinical results to enablemore effective and safer radiotherapy of cancerpatients. In response to expectations expressedat the seminar, NIRS offered to open theHIMAC facility for international research, aswell as for the treatment of patients.

Austria: NASA soils project

The Austrian-based International Institute forAppl ied Systems Analys is ( I IASA) haslaunched a new project to develop alternativestrategies for limiting the impact of toxic heavymetals on humans and the environment. Al-though air and water quality have improvedmarkedly in the last two decades, IIASA notesthat soil quality has become progressivelyworse. The nature of soil structures causes toxicchemicals and other persistent organic materialto reside longer than in air or water. The IIASAproject will study conditions in various regionsof the world, with the aim of developing amodel applicable in setting policies and indetermining effective strategies for controllingsoil contamination. More information may beobtained from IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria,A-2361.

Inside the HIMACfacility at NIRS inChiba, Japan, wherethree dimensionalheavy-ionradiotherapy ofcancer patients hasbeen initiated.

it: MRS;


.BR.EFLY NOTED.

NUCLEAR PLANT AGEING. Some 47technical experts from 20 Member States metin Vienna from 5-9 September 1994 to reviewdraft guidance reports on the assessment andmanagement of ageing of major nuclear plantcomponents. The components include the reac-tor pressure vessel, vessel internals, pres-surizer, and primary piping of pressurized-water reactors (PWRs); the reactor pressurevessel, vessel internals, and metal componentsof boiling-water reactors (BWRs); the pressuretubes, calandria and calandria supports, andprimary piping of Candu reactors; and PWRand Candu steam generators. The reports areexpected to be finalized in mid-1995.

WASTE MANAGEMENT SUPPORT. TheIAEA Waste Management Section has estab-lished a special group responsible for helpingdeveloping countries upgrade their wastemanagement infrastructures. Called "Supportto Developing Member States", the group willconduct services for direct assistance and co-ordinate technical co-operation activities inwaste management. It was established inrecognition of the increased need for technicalassistance and support in the field of radioac-tive waste management among developingcountries.

NUCLEAR COMMUNICATIONS. A newpublication from the IAEA's Division of NuclearFuel Cycle and Waste Management looks at keyaspects of nuclear activities and public infor-mation. Entitled Nuclear Communications: AHandbook for Guiding Good CommunicationsPractices at Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities(280 Austrian schillings), the book provides acompact source of information for nuclearprofessionals, identifying and addressing keyquestions that members of the public mayhave about different aspects of the nuclear fuelcycle. See the Keep Abreast section of thisIAEA Bulletin for ordering information.

NUCLEAR PLANT SAFETY REVIEWSERVICES. Missions are being plannedthroughout 1995 for safety reviews of nuclearpower plant operations in IAEA MemberStates. Under the IAEA's Operational SafetyReview Team (OSART) programme, 1995 mis-sions include those scheduled in Kazakhstan,France, Japan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Argentina,

Sweden, Switzerland, and the UnitedKingdom. Under the Assessment for SafetySignificant Events Team (ASSET) programme,eleven missions for 1995 had been requested asof December 1994, including the first missionincorporating a new ASSET service, peerreviews of plant safety analyses that have beenconducted according to ASSET procedures.The year 1995 will see completion of the 100thASSET mission since the service began. Moreinformation about these and other safety ser-vices may be obtained from the IAEA Divisionof Nuclear Safety.

INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR EVENTSCALE. National officers of countries par-ticipating in the IAEA's International NuclearEvent Scale (INES) met in Vienna in late Oc-tober 1994 to review the system's operation.INES is used to classify significant safety-re-lated events occurring at nuclear facilities on aseven-level scale. The INES meeting noted thatthe system is proving effective in facilitatingcommon understanding and prompt com-munication of events. At the same time, theynoted that there are some inconsistenciesamong the participating countries in the ap-plication of the INES rating and procedures, afactor expected to be addressed in 1995. Fifty-four countries are participating in the INESinformation system, which was jointlydeveloped by the IAEA and Nuclear EnergyAgency of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and has been inworldwide use since 1992.

WHO STUDY OF IRRADIATED FOOD. In adetailed new study, the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) concludes that irradiatedfood produced in accordance with goodmanufacturing practices can be considered safeand nutritionally adequate. The study is en-titled Safety and Nutritional Adequacy of Ir-radiated Food and is the most comprehensivecompilation on the subject ever issued by theglobal health organization. Worldwide, some40 countries have approved the use of irradia-tion for various kinds of food, and about 30 ofthese are applying the technology on a limitedcommercial scale. More information about thestudy may be obtained from WHO's FoodSafety Unit, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.Fax: 791-0746.


INTFRNATIDNAI DAT AFILE

ArgentinaBelgiumBrazilBulgariaCanadaChinaCubaCzech RepublicFinlandFranceGermanyHungaryIndiaIranJapanKazakhstanKorea, Rep. ofLithuaniaMexicoNetherlandsPakistanRomaniaRussian FederationSouth AfricaSlovak RepublicSloveniaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUnited KingdomUkraineUSA

World total*

1"

No. of units

2716

222

44

5721

49

48192121

292419

125

3515

109

430

operation

Total net MWe

9355527

6263538

157551 194

1 6482310

5903322657

1 7291 593

3802970

72202370

654504125

198431 8421 632

6327105

100022985

11 9091267998784

337 820

Under constructionNuclear powerstatus around

No. of units Total net MWe the world

1 692

1245

1 9062 8162 1 824

4 5815

5 1 0102 23926 5645

7 5770

1 654

1 3005 31554 3375

4 1 552

1 1 1886 57002 2330

55 44 369

" The total includesTaiwan, China where six reactors totalling 4890 MWe are in operation.

LithuaniaFrance

BelgiumSlovak Republic

HungarySloveniaSweden

Rep. of KoreaSwitzerland

BulgariaSpain

UkraineFinlandJapan

GermanyCzech RepublicUnited Kingdom

United StatesCanada

ArgentinaRussia

NetherlandsSouth Africa

MexicoIndia

2117.3%

14.2%12.5%

5.1%

4.5%

3%1 .9%

43.3%43.3%

42%40.3%

37.9%36.9%

36%32.9%32.4%

30.9%29.7%29.2%

26.3%.2%

• 87.2%77.7%

58.9%53.6%

Note: Percentages are as of endDecember 1993. Other countries

generating a share of their electricityfrom nuclear power include Pakistan

(0.9%, estimated); Kazakhstan (0.5%);China (0.3%); and Brazil (0.2%).Additionally, the nuclear share of

electricity production was 33.5% inTaiwan, China.

Nuclear shareof electricitygeneration inselectedcountries


J=>OSTS ANNOUNCED BY THE IAEA.

SECTION HEAD (94-052), Department ofResearch and Isotopes. This P-5 post requires aPh.D. in physics and 15 years of experience ina physics-related field and thorough knowledgeof and demonstrated experience in the manage-ment of staff and scientific projects. Also re-quired is a broad experience in plasma physics,with emphasis on thermonuclear fusion re-search, as attested by relevant publications andfamiliarity with scientific and technologicalproblems of developing countries.Closing date. 20 January 1995.

REACTOR ENGINEERING SAFETYSPECIALIST (94/053), Department of Nu-clear Energy and Safety. This P-4 post requiresan advanced degree in nuclear engineering or ina field of related sciences as appropriate to theduties of the post. Also required are at least 10years of experience in matters related to engi-neering safety of nuclear power plants, safetyanalysis, including fire safety, the use of com-puter codes, and safety research.Closing date: 20 January 1995.

NUCLEAR POWER PLANNER/ ECONO-MIST (94/054), Department of Nuclear Energyand Safety. This P-4 post requires a Ph.D. orequivalent degree in energy technology/eco-nomics, or computer sciences/operations re-search in the field of energy. At least 10 yearsof experience, at a national or internationallevel, related to energy systems, including en-ergy and electricity demand/supply analysisand planning. Also required is extensive expe-rience in the development and use of databasesand models on personal computers related toenergy and electricity supply technologies,preferably including economic comparison andtreatment of health and environmental aspects.Closing date: 20 January 1995.

UNIT HEAD/SYSTEMS ANALYST(94/055), Department of Safeguards. This P-4post requires a university degree, preferably incomputer science and at least 10 years of rele-vant experience. Also required is familiaritywith techniques and practices of structured sys-tem analysis, design and programming, demon-strable programming, analysis and design expe-rience for large mainframe systems, and man-agement experience. Closing date: 20 January1995.

SYSTEMS ANALYST (94/056), Departmentof Safeguards. This P-4 post requires a univer-sity degree, preferably in computer science andat least 10 years of relevant experience. Alsorequired is knowledge of data processing, inparticular techniques and practices of struc-tured system analysis, as well as design andprogramming. Closing date: 20 January 1995.

FRENCH TRANSLATOR (94-061), Department of Administration. This P-3 post re-quires a university degree or equivalent. Appli-cants must have at least 3 years relevant expe-rience, with a demonstrated aptitude for trans-lation work, and the ability to handle difficulttechnical material. Closing date: 10 February1995.

UNIT HEAD (TWO POSITIONS) (94-063),Department of Safeguards. These P-5 posts re-quire an advanced university degree in chemis-try, physics, engineering or electronics/instru-mentation or the equivalent. At least 15 yearscombined research, industrial, and safeguardsexperience in the nuclear fuel cycle, processingof nuclear materials, nuclear material account-ing and/or destructive/non destructive analysis.The posts also require experience in safeguardsrelated activities including inspection planning,execution, data analysis and preparation of in-spection reports and statements. Closing date:10 February 1995.

SAFETY ASSESSMENT SPECIALIST (94-062), Department of Nuclear Energy andSafety. This P-4 post requires an advanced de-gree (Master of Science) in nuclear engineer-ing. Also required are ten years of experiencein the area of nuclear safety including quantita-tive techniques and component behaviour.Closing date: 10 February 1995.

PROCEDURES AND PERFORMANCEMONITORING ENGINEER (94-064), De-partment of Safeguards. This P-4 post requiresa university degree in electrical or industrialengineering, with specialization in computersciences. Also required is demonstrated mana-gerial and organizational abilities, technicalcompetence in the field of electronic ftata proc-essing and of electronics and safeguards instru-mentation, technical competence in the pro-gramming of interactive database applications.Demonstrated capability in the preparation oftechnical and management reports, and 10 yearsof relevant professional experience includingsome in an international environment. Closingdate: 3 March 1995.

READER'S NOTE: The IAEA. Buttetinpublishes short summaries of vacancy noticesas a service to readers interested in the typesof professional positions required by theIAEA. They are not the official notices andremain subject to change. On a frequentbasis, the IAEA sends vacancy notices togovernmental bodies and organizations in theAgency's Member States (typically theforeign ministry and atomic energyauthority), as well as to United Nationsoffices and information centres. Prospectiveapplicants are advised to maintain contactwith them. Applications are invited fromsuitably qualified women as well as men.More specific information about employmentopportunities at the IAEA may be obtainedby writing the Division of Personnel, Box100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria.ON-LINE COMPUTER SERVICES. IAEAvacancy notices for professional positions, aswell as application forms, now are availablethrough a global computerized network that canbe accessed directly. Access is through the In-ternet Services. The vacancy notices are locatedin a public directory accessible via the normalInternet file transfer services. To use the serv-ice, connect to the IAEA's Internet addressNESIRS01.IAEA.OR.AT (161.5.64.10), andthen log on using the identification anonymousand your user password. The vacancy noticesare in the directory called pub/vacancy_posts.A README file contains general information,and an INDEX file contains a short descriptionof each vacancy notice. Other information, inthe form of files that may be copied, includesan application form and conditions of employ-ment. Please note that applications for postscannot be forwarded through the computerizednetwork, since they must be received in writingby the IAEA Division of Personnel.


.IAEA BOOKS KEEP ABREAST

Reports and Proceedings

Use of Irradiation to Control Infectivity ofFood-borne Parasites, Pane I ProceedingsSeries No. 933,400 Austrian schillings,ISBN 92-0-103193-9

Measurement Assurance in Dosimetry,Proceedings Series No. 930,1900 Austrianschillings, ISBN 92-0-100194-0

Advanced Nuclear Power Systems: Design,Technology, Safety and Strategies for theirDevelopment, Proceedings Series No. 931,1520 Austrian schillings, ISBN 92-0-101894-0

Radiation and Society: ComprehendingRadiation Risk, Proceedings SeriesNo 959, 640 Austrian schillings,ISBN 92-0-102194-1

International Nuclear Safeguards 1994:Vision for the Future, Proceedings SeriesNo. 945, 2000 Austrian schillings,ISBN 92-0-101994-7

Classification of Radioactive Waste,Safety Series No 950,200 Austrianschillings,ISBN 92-0-101194-6

Compliance Assurance for the SafeTransport of Radioactive Material,Safety Series No. 953360 Austrian schillings,ISBN 92-0-100394-3

Siting of Geological Disposal FacilitiesSafety Series No.952,180 Austrian schillings,ISBN 92-0-101294-2

Software Important to Safety in NuclearPower Plants 560 Austrian schillings,ISBN 92-0-101594-1

Reference books/statistics

IAEA Yearbook 1994,500 Austrian schillings, ISBN 92-0-10394-4

Energy, Electricity and Nuclear PowerEstimates up to 2015, Reference Data SeriesNo. 1, ISBN 92-0-102694-3 (IAEA-RDS-1/I4)

Nuclear Power Reactors in the World,Reference Data Series No. 2, ISBN92-0-101794-4 (IAEA-RDS-2/14)

Nuclear Research Reactors in the World,Reference Data Series No. 3,ISBN 92-0-103793-7

Radioactive Waste Management Glossary,200 Austrian schillings, ISBN 92-0-103493-8

The Law and Practices of the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency 1970-1980,Supplement 1 to the 1970 edition of LegalSeries No. 7, Legal Series No. 7-S1,2000 Austrian schillings,ISBN 92-0-103693-0

HOW TO ORDER IAEA SALES PUBLICATIONS

IAEA books, reports, and other publications may be purchased from sales agents orbooksellers listed here or through major local bookstores

ARGENTINAComision Nacional de Energfa Atomica,Avenida del Libertador 8250RA-1429 Buenos Aires

AUSTRALIAHunter Publications, 58A Gipps Street,Collmgwood. Victoria 3066

BELGIUMService Courrier UNESCO202, Avenue du Roi, B-1060 Brussels

CANADAUNIPUB4611-F Assembly DriveLanham, MD 20706-4391, USA

CHILEComision Chilena de Energfa NuclearVenta de Publicaciones,Amunategui 95, Casilla 188-D, Santiago

CHINAIAEA Publications in Chinese •China Nuclear Energy Industry Corp.Translation Section,P.O. Box 2103, BeijingIAEA Publications other than in ChineseChina National Publications Import &Export Corp., Deutsche AbteilungP.O. Box 88, Beijing

FRANCEOffice International de Documentation etLibrairie, 48, rue Gay-LussacF-75240 Pans Cedex 05

GERMANYUNO-Verlag, Vertnebs-und VerlagsGmbH, Dag Hammarskjold-Haus,Poppelsdorfer Alice 55, D-53115 Bonn

HUNGARYLibrotrade Ltd., Book Import,P.O. Box 126, H-1656 Budapest

INDIAOxford Book and Stationary Co.,17. Park Street. Calcutta-700 016Oxford Book and Stationary Co..Scmdia House, New Delhi-110 001

ISRAELYOZMOT Literature Ltd..P.O. Box 56055, IL-61560 Tel Aviv

ITALYLibrena Scientifica Dott Lucio di Biasio" AEIOU", Via Coronelh 6.1-20146Milan

JAPANMaruzen Company, Ltd, P.O. Box 5050,100-31 Tokyo International

NETHERLANDSMartmus Nijhoff International,P.O. Box 269, NL-2501 AX The HagueSwets and Zeitlmger b.v.,P.O. Box 830, NL-2610 SZ Lisse

PAKISTANMirza Book Agency, 65, ShahrahQuaid-e-Azam, P.O Box 729, Lahore 3

POLANDArs Polona, Foreign Trade Enterprise,Krakowskie Przedmiescie 7,PL-00-068 Warsaw

ROMANIAIlexim, P.O Box 136-137, Bucharest

RUSSIAN FEDERATIONMezhdunarodnaya KnigaSovinkmga-EA, Dimitrova 39SU-113 095 Moscow

SLOVAK REPUBLICAlfa Publishers, Hurbanovo namestie 3,SQ-815 89 Bratislava

SOUTH AFRICAVan Schaik Bookstore (Pty) Ltd,P.O. Box 724, Pretoria 0001

SPAINDiaz de Santos, Lagasca 95,E-28006 MadridDiaz de Santos, Balmes 417,E-08022 Barcelona

SWEDENAB Fntzes Kungl. Hovbokhandel,Fredsgatan 2, P.O. Box 16356,S-103 Stockholm

UNITED KINGDOMHMSO Publications Centre,Agency Section, 51 Nine Elms Lane,London SW8 SDR

UNITED STATES OF AMERICAUNIPUB4611-F Assembly DriveLanham, MD 20706-4391. USA

YUGOSLAVIAJugoslovenska Knjiga, Terazije 27,P.O. Box 36. YU-11001 Belgrade

Orders and requests for informationalso can be addressed directly to:Division of PublicationsInternational Atomic Energy AgencyWagramerstrasse 5, P.O. Box 100,A-1400 Vienna, Austria


ON LINE DATABASESOF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY

PRIS

Database name

Power Reactor Information System(PRIS)

Type of database

Factual

ProducerInternational Atomic Energy Agency

in co-operation with29 IAEA Member States

IAEA contact

IAEA, Nuclear Power EngineeringSection, P.O. Box 100

A-1400 Vienna, AustriaTelephone (43) (1)2360

Telex (1)-12645Facsimile +43 1 234564

Electronic mail viaBITNET/INTERNET to ID:[email protected]

ScopeWorldwide information on power

reactors in operation, under construc-tion, planned or shutdown, and data

on operating experience withnuclear power plants in IAEA

Member States.

CoverageReactor status, name, location, type,supplier, turbine generator supplier,plant owner and operator, thermal

power, gross and net electricalpower, date of construction start,

date of first criticality, date of firstsynchronization to grid, date of com-mercial operation, date of shutdown,

and data on reactor core charac-teristics and plant systems; energyproduced; planned and unplannedenergy losses; energy availability

and unavailability factors; operatingfactor, and load factor.

AGRIS

Database name

International Information System forthe Agricultural Sciences and

Technology (AGRIS)

Type of database

Bibliographic

Producer

Food and Agriculture Organization ofthe United Nations (FAO) in

co-operation with 172 national,regional, and international AGRIS

centres

IAEA contactAGRIS Processing Unitc/o IAEA, P.O. Box 100A-1400 Vienna, AustriaTelephone (43) (1)2360

Telex (1)-12645Facsimile+43 1234564

Electronic mail viaBITNET/INTERNET to ID:FAS@IAEA1 .IAEA.OR.AT

Number of records on line fromJanuary 1993 to date

more than 130 000

Scope

Worldwide information on agricul-tural sciences and technology, includ-ing forestry, fisheries, and nutrition.

Coverage

Agriculture in general; geographyand history; education, extension,

and information; administration andlegislation; agricultural economics;development and rural sociology;

plant and animal science and produc-tion; plant protection; post-harvesttechnology; fisheries and aquacul-

ture; agricultural machinery and en-gineering; natural resources; process-ing of agricultural products; humannutrition; pollution; methodology.

NDIS

Database name

Nuclear Data Information System(NDIS)

Type of database

Numerical and bibliographic

Producer

International Atomic Energy Agencyin co-operation with the United

States National Nuclear Data Centreat the Brookhaven National

Laboratory, the Nuclear Data Bankof the Nuclear Energy Agency,

Organisation for EconomicCo-operation and Development inParis, France, and a network of 22

other nuclear data centres worldwide

IAEA contactIAEA Nuclear Data Section,

P.O. Box 100A-1400 Vienna, AustriaTelephone (43) (1)2360

Telex (D-12645Facsimile +43 1234564

Electronic mail viaBITNET/INTERNET to ID:

RNDS@IAEA1 .IAEA.OR.AT

Scope

Numerical nuclear physics data filesdescribing the interaction of radiation

with matter, and relatedbibliographic data.

Datatypes

Evaluated neutron reaction data inENDF format; experimental nuclearreaction data in EXFOR format, for

reactions induced by neutrons,charged particles, or photons; nuclearhalf-lives and radioactive decay datain the systems NUDAT and ENSDF;

related bibliographic informationfrom the IAEA databases CINDA

and NSR; various other types of data.

Note: Off-line data retrievals fromNDIS also may be obtained from the

producer on magnetic tape

AMDIS

Database nameAtomic and Molecular Data

Information System (AMDIS)

Type of database

Numerical and bibliographic

ProducerInternational Atomic Energy Agency

in co-operation with the InternationalAtomic and Molecular Data Centrenetwork, a group of 16 national data

centres from several countries.

IAEA contact

IAEA Atomic and Molecular DataUnit, Nuclear Data Section

Electronic mail viaBITNETto: RNDS@IAEA1;

via INTERNET to ID:PSM@RIPCRS01 .IAEA.OR.AT

Scope

Data on atomic, molecular,plasma-surface interaction, andmaterial properties of interest tofusion research and technology

Coverage

Includes ALADDIN formatted dataon atomic structure and spectra

(energy levels, wave lengths, andtransition probabilities); electron andheavy particle collisions with atoms,ions, and molecules (cross sections

and/or rate coefficients, including, inmost cases, analytic fit to the data);sputtering of surfaces by impact ofmain plasma constituents and selfsputtering; particle reflection from

surfaces; thermophysical andthermomechanical properties of

beryllium and pyrolytic graphites.

Note: Off-line data and bibliographicretrievals, as well as ALADDIN

software and manual, also may beob-tainedfrom the producer on

diskettes, magnetic tape, or hardcopy.

For access to these databases, please contact the producers.Information from these databases also may be purchased from the producer in printed form.INIS and AGRIS additionally are available on CD-ROM.

INIS

Database name

International Nuclear InformaiionSystem (INIS)

Type of database

Bibliographic

Producer

International Atomic Energy Agencyin co-operation with 87 IAEAMember States and 16 otherinternational organizations

IAEA contact

IAEA, INIS Section, P.O. Box 100.A-1400 Vienna, Austria

Telephone (43) (1 ) 2360 2842Telex (1)-12645

Facsimile +43 1 234564Electronic mail via

BITNET/INTERNET to ID:[email protected]

Number of records on line fromJanuary 1976 to date

more than 1.5 million

Scope

Worldwide information on thepeaceful uses of nuclear science and

technology: economic andenvironmental aspects of other energy

sources.

Coverage

The central areas of coverage arenuclear reactors, reactor safety.nuclear fusion, applications of

radiation or isotopes in medicine,agriculture, industry, and pest

control, as well as related fieldssuch as nuclear chemistry, nuclear

physics, and materials science.Special emphasis is placed on the

environmental, economic, andhealth effects of nuclear energy, aswell as, from 1992. the economic

and environmental aspects ofnon-nuclear energy sources. Legaland social aspects associated withnuclear energy also are covered.

ON C D - R O M5000 JOURNALS

1.5 MILLION RECORDS

6 COMPACT DISCS

INIS (the International Nuclear Information System)is a multi-disciplinary, bibliographic databasecovering all aspects of the peaceful uses of nuclearscience and technology. INIS on CD-ROM combinesthe worldwide coverage of the nuclear literaturewith all the advantages of compact disc technology.

Call +44 (0)81 995 8242 TODAY!

for further informationand details of your local distributor

or write toSilverPlatter Information Ltd.10 Barley Mow Passage, Chiswick, LondonW4 4PH, U.K.Tel: 0800 262 096 +44 (0)81 995 8242Fax: +44 (0)81 995 5159

The IAEA'snuclear scienceandtechnologydatabase onCD-ROM

CD-ROMmeans* unlimited easy

access* fast, dynamic

searching* fixed annual

cost* flexible down-

loading andprinting

* desktopaccess

» easy storage* saving time,

space andmoney

5


IAEA-UPCOMING CO-ORDINATED RESEARCH PROGRAMMES

Improvement of ruminant livestock productivity in developing countries throughthe use of progesterone radioimmunoassay to increase the efficiency and qualityof artificial insemination servicesTo improve the quality of artificial insemination (Al) services in developing countriesthrough the identification of causes of inefficiency and the implementation of appropriatechanges to rectify them. The programme will serve as a vehicle for instituting bettertraining and professional development ofAl technicians, as well as for educating farmerson the importance of oestrous detection and improved husbandry practices.

Improved diagnosis and control of foot-and-mouth disease in South East Asiausing ELISA-based technologiesTo strengthen the capability of the national veterinary services in Asia to contributeeffectively to foot-and-mouth disease control by establishing the capacity to use ELISA-based systems for its diagnosis and monitoring.

Randomized clinical trial of radiotherapy combined with mitomycin C in thetreatment of advance head and neck tumoursTo enhance efficacy of radiotherapy and thus improve cure rates and survival, to increasethe competence of the participating parties in the field concerned and to encourage awider use of this multimodal approach in the oncological practice particularly in thedeveloping countries.

Application of isotope techniques to investigate groundwater pollutionTo develop methodologies for monitoring so that inputs to planning, decision and policymaking for water resources utilization can be more definitive.

Radiation protection in diagnostic radiology in Asia and the Far EastTo provide a detailed knowledge of the collective doses in the participating countrie bya comparison of these doses among countries, and to identify priorities for improvementat the national level.

High temperature on-line monitoring or water chemistry and corrosion (WACOL)To set up the recommendations in the implementation of measures for the development,qualification, and plant commissioning of methods and equipment for on-line monitoringof significant water chemistry parameters under all operating conditions.

The use of irradiated sewage sludge to increase soil fertility, crop yields, andpreserve the environmentTo develop technologies for efficient and effective use of decontaminated sewage sludgeas an organic fertilizer for increasing and sustaining soil fertility and crop production.

Improvement of new and traditional industrial crops by induced mutations andrelated biothecnologiesTo develop mutagenic approaches for new species and selection procedures foragricultural and industrial requirements, to induce mutations leading to new productcompositions and/or qualities, and to diversify the agricultural crop options, facilitatingbetter crop rotations in a more sustainable pattern.

These are selected listings, subject to change. Morecomplete information about IAEA meetings can beobtained from the IAEA Conference Service Section atthe Agency's headquarters in Vienna, or by referring tothe IAEA quarterly publication Meetings on AtomicEnergy (See the Keep Abreast section for ordennginformation.) More detailed information about the IAEA'sco-ordinated research programmes may be obtainedfrom the Research Contracts Administration Section atIAEA headquarters. The programmes are designed tofacilitate global co-operation on scientific and technicalsubjects in various fields, ranging from radiationapplications in medicine, agriculture, and industry tonuclear power technology and safety

IAEASYMPOSIA & SEMINARS.

MARCH 1995

Symposium on Isotope Techniques inWater Resources Management,Vienna, Austria (20-24 March)

APRIL 1995

FAO/IAEA Seminar for Africa on Ani-mal Trypanosomiasis: Vector and Dis-ease Control Using Nuclear Tech-niques, Tanzania (3-7 April)

MAY 1995

Seminar on Management of AgeingResearch Reactors, Hamburg, Germany(8-12 May)

Symposium on Environmental Impactof Radioactive Releases, Vienna,Austria (8-12 May)

JUNE 1995Symposium for Crop Improvement,Vienna, Austria (19-23 June)

AUGUST 1995Symposium on Tomography in Nu-clear Medicine, Present Status andFuture Prospects, Vienna, Austria(21-25 August)

Seminar on the Requirements for theSafe Management of RadioactiveWaste, Vienna, Austria (28 August -1 September)

Seminar on the Advancements in theImplementation of the New BasicSafety Standards (Experience in Ap-plying the 1990 Recommendations ofICRP), Vienna, Austria(14-18 August)

SEPTEMBER 1995International Conference on Ad-vances in Operational Safety at Nu-clear Power Plants, Vienna, Austria(4-8 September)

OCTOBER 1995International Symposium on Electricity,Health and the Environment: Com-parative Assessment in Support of De-cision Making,Stockholm, Sweden,(23-27 October)

NOVEMBER 1995

Regional Seminar for Asia and thePacific on Radiation Dosimetry: Ra-diation Dose in Radiotherapy fromPrescription to Delivery, Bangkok,Thailand (27-28 November)

76 IAEA BULLETIN, 4/1994 94-04761

IAEABULLETIN

Published quarterly by the Division ot

Public Information of the International

Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 700.

A-1400 Vienna. Austria.

Tel: (43-1) 2360-1270

Facsimile: (43-1) 234564

DIRECTOR GENERAL: Or Hans Blix

DEPUTY DIRECTORS GENERAL:

Mr David Waller. Mr Bruno Pellaud,

Mr Boris Semenov, Mr Sueo Macni.

Mr jihui Qian

DIRECTOR, DIVISION OFPUBLIC INFORMATION:

Mr David Kyd

CHIEF EDITOR: Mr Lotfiar H Wedekind

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS:

Mr Rodolfo Quevenco, Ms Juanita Perez.

Ms Brenda Blann

LAYOUT/DESIGN: Ms Hannelore Wilczek

CONTRIBUTORS TO DEPARTMENTS:

Ms S. Dallalah, Ms L. Diebold,

Ms A.B de Reynaud, Ms R. Spiegelberg

PRODUCTION SUPPORT:

Mr P. Witzig, Mr R. Kelleher, Ms I. Emge,

Ms H. Bacher. Ms A. Primes.

Ms M. Swoboda, Mr W. Kreutzer,

Mr G Demal. Mr A. Adler.

Mr R. Luttenfeldner. Mr F Prochaska.

Mr P. Palak, Mr L. Nimetzki

Language Editions

TRANSLATION SUPPORT: Mr J Rivals.

Ms E. Fritz

FRENCH EDITION: Mr S Drege. translation;

Ms V. Laugier-Yamashita. copyediting

SPANISH EDITION: Equipo de Servicios de

Traductores e Interpretes (ESTI), Havana.

Cuba, translation; Mr L. Herrero. editing

CHINESE EDITION: China Nuclear Energy

Industry Corporation Translation Service,

Beijing, translation, printing, distribution.

The IAEA Bulletin is distributed without

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IAEAMEMBER STATES.

1957

AfghanistanAlbaniaArgentinaAustraliaAustriaBelarusBrazilBulgariaCanadaCubaDenmarkDominican RepublicEgyptEl SalvadorEthiopiaFranceGermanyGreeceGuatemalaHaitiHoly SeeHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIsraelItalyJapanKorea. Republic otMonacoMoroccoMyanmarNetherlandsNew ZealandNorwayPakistanParaguayPeruPolandPortugalRomaniaRussian FederationSouth AfricaSpamSri LankaSwedenSwitzerlandThailandTunisiaTurkeyUkraineUnited Kingdom

of Great Britainand Northern Ireland

United States of AmericaVenezuela

Viet NamYugoslavia

1958BelgiumCambodiaEcuadorFinlandIran. Islamic Republic otLuxembourgMexicoPhilippinesSudan

1959Iraq

1960ChileColombiaGhanaSenegal

1961LebanonMaiiZaire

1962LiberiaSaudi Arabia

1963AlgeriaBoliviaC6te d'lvoireLibyan Arab JamahinyaSyrian Arab RepublicUruguay

1964CameroonGabonKuwaitNigeria

1965Costa RicaCyprusJamaicaKenyaMadagascar

1966JordanPanama

1967Sierra LeoneSingaporeUganda

1968Liechtenstein

1969MalaysiaNigerZambia

1970Ireland

1972Bangladesh

1973Mongolia

1974Mauritius

1976OatarUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Republ'c ot Tanzania

1977Nicaragua

1983Namibia

1984China

1986Zimbabwe

1991LatviaLithuaniaYemen. Republic of

1992CroatiaEstoniaSlovenia

1993ArmeniaCzech RepublicSlovakia

1994Former Yugoslav Republic

of MacedoniaKazakhstanMarshall IslandsUzbekistan

Eighteen ratifications were required to bring the IAEA's Statute into force By 29 July 1957. the States in bold facehad ratified the Statute

Year denotes year ol membership Names of the States are not necessarily their historical designations

For States in italic, membership has been approved by the IAEA General Conference and will take effect once therequired legal instruments have been deposited

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which came intobeing on 29 July 1957. is an independent intergovern-mental organization within the United Nations System

Headquartered in Vienna. Austria, the Agency has morethan 100 Member States who together work to carry outIho ma •= T0 a<:c9lera!e jnrt

enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, healtn,and prosperity throughout the world and to ensure so faras it is able that assistance provided by it. or at its requestor under its supervision or control, is not used in such away as to further any military purpose

IAEA headquarters, at the Vienna International Centre.

Until now, one of the biggestproblems with reading personalexposure doses has been the size ofthe monitoring equipment. Which isprecisely why we're introducing theElectronic Pocket Dosimeter (EPD)"MY DOSE mini™" PDM-Series.

These high-performance

dosimeters combine an easy-to-read digital display with a widemeasuring range suiting a widerange of needs.

But the big news is how verysmall and lightweight they'vebecome. Able to fit into any pocketand weighing just 50-90 grams,

the Aloka EPDs can go anywhereyou go. Which may prove to bequite a sizable improvement, indeed.

ModelPDM-101PDM-102PDM-173PDM-107PDM-303ADM-102

Energy60keV-40 keV -40 keV -20 keV -thermal - fast40 keV -

Range0.01 - 99.99 pSv1 - 9,999 pSv0.01 - 99.99 mSv1 - 9,999 ^Sv0.01 - 99.99 mSv0.001 - 99.99 mSv

ApplicationHigh sensitivity, photonGeneral use, photonGeneral use, photonLow energy, photonNeutronWith vibration & sound alarm, photon

SCIENCE AND HUMANITY

W///ALOKA CO.. LTD.

6-22-1 Mure. Mitaka-stii Tokyo 181 Japan

Telephone: (0422) 45-5111

Facsimile: (0422) 45-4058

Tete»: 02822-344

To: 3rd Export SectionOverseas Marketing Dept.

Ann: N.Odaka

.. Safety, convenience and a varietylof styles to choose from.

PDM-107

PDM-102

PDM-173PDM-101

'

PDM-303

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