Workers members from CNL and TINT after the second Ra-226 repackaging (Photograph: Archara Phattanasub/TINT)
“The IAEA has lengthy championed the secure storage and disposal of disused sealed radioactive sources, which has all the time been appreciated and supported by Canada,” stated Jack Craig, President and CEO of CNL. “Nonetheless, their initiatives to help donor nations in eradicating long-term liabilities whereas enabling a brand new radiotherapeutics business is monumental. CNL can also be grateful to the Kingdom of Thailand and our new worldwide collaborators, TINT, for his or her contribution to this new class of most cancers therapeutic medicine.”
TINT first reached out to the IAEA about this challenge in February 2022 and met with CNL later that 12 months. After TINT confirmed the receipt of their export license in June 2023, over 70 packages of disused radium-226 have been despatched to Canada.
The worldwide switch of radioactive materials is a multifaceted endeavour requiring shut collaboration amongst a number of entities, together with regulatory our bodies (in Thailand, it’s the Workplace of Atoms for Peace) and port authorities. Diligent work in radiation and contamination monitoring, supply inspection, characterization and repackaging, is carried out with IAEA assist previous to cargo.
“Thailand, by TINT, has efficiently transferred the radium-226 sources to Canada with nice assist and wonderful coordination from the IAEA and related authorities of each nations,” stated Thawatchai Onjun, Govt Director of TINT.
TINT constructed a devoted radioactive waste storage facility at its Ongkharak web site in 2013 which grew to become purposeful in 2016. “Recycling these sources has a number of advantages for Thailand and is consistent with round economic system goals,” stated Archara Phattanasub, Head of the Radioactive Waste Expertise and Improvement Part in TINT. “This initiative has helped up considerably cut back the chance for any kind of incident related to these disused sources and freed up numerous area in our nationwide storage facility.”
Trying forward, there are a number of extra transfers deliberate for 2024 as a part of this initiative. Shipments from Curaçao, El Salvador, Fiji and Slovenia are set to happen later this 12 months. In December, the IAEA will host a technical assembly on the initiative to overview progress, study classes realized and establish future alternatives for collaboration.
“The collaboration exhibited by CNL and TINT serves as a terrific instance of successfully conduct advanced supply transportation operations with many transferring elements,” stated Mykolaichuk. “Fostering sustainable practices is a key component of the IAEA’s mandate, and we stay up for delivering on this initiative for a few years to return.”
