The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Austria-based autonomous intergovernmental organization, has approved a number of technical cooperation projects with Qatar for the peaceful usage of nuclear energy for 2022-2023.
The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Qatar, represented by the Radiation and Chemical Protection Department, has stated that the projects will cover the areas of food safety that will be implemented with the Ministry of Public Health, strengthening national capabilities in radiological diagnosis of diseases with Hamad Medical Corp and Sidra Medicine and bolstering the supervisory work on radiological applications in the medical.
The project will also cover industrial and environmental fields which will be implemented by the Radiation and Chemical Protection Department and the establishment of a secondary calibration laboratory for radioactive devices which is the largest of its kind in the Middle East, that targets to enhance the radiation protection programs in Qatar.
Currently, Qatar runs 35 technical co-operation projects with the IAEA, which includes 10 national projects, 23 regional projects, and two projects at the global level. These projects are implemented through more than 10 different institutions in the country. The Radiation and Chemical Protection Department will follow up on these works with the help of various entities and institutions executing them.
The projects cover the areas of agriculture, improving animal production, combating diseases, medicine and human health, strengthening control over radiological activities, environmental radiological survey, combating the effects of climate change, developing human capabilities in peaceful uses of atomic energy, an environmental survey of the seas, plastic pollution, antiquities, food safety and groundwater.
