Dr. Robin Rattray and Ms. Tracey-Ann Warner attended their second training course held by the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) from July 6-10, 2009 at the Medallion Hall hotel.

The course continued to prepare potential technical assessors for inspection of laboratories in Ja-maica seeking accreditation to the international standard ISO/IEC 17025.

Other attendees included representatives from the Bureau of Standards, Veterinary Services Division,

Caribbean Regional Drug Testing Laboratory, National Water Commission, Environmental Solutions Ltd. and the Government Chemist Department .

Hope Mine is situated to the northeast of the University of the West Indies Mona campus and includes Kintyre and Hope Flat communities which have been the target of well documented studies since the 90’s. The Social Development Commission estimated resi-dential population at over 3500 (SDC, 1998) for the combined communities, how-

ever the resident’s estimates far exceed this, putting much emphasis on the division and growth of the communities. Dwellings in the past have been mostly wooden and zinc structures; now more perma-nent concrete structures are being erected, an indication that the people plan to be there for some time. Kameaka Duncan, Scientific Officer,

stated that, “Unfortunately, the legacy of lead still continues in this community.”

Dr. Robin Rattray (Left) and Miss Tracey Ann Warner (second from left) with fellow trainees at the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC)

ICENS gets in gear for ISO17025

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Kintyre revisited

1

ICENS in-stalls new ICP

2

Meeting in Vienna

2

MADEIRA training course

3

SLD Mega ports Training

3

Re-shimming of Reactor

3

OPM Sum-mer Pro-

4

Kintyre revisited

I C E N S , U W I M O N A

ICENS E-news D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2

S P E C I A L P O I N T S O F I N T E R E S T :

• Installation of

new ICP Spectrometer

• ICENS staff

get training to become ISO17025 assessors

• Re-shimming

of Nuclear Reactor

• Research

Reactor Tech-nical Meeting in Vienna

P A G E 2

“To catch the

reader's attention,

place an

interesting

sentence or quote

from the story

here.”

Renee Chin (CHASE Project Officer), Prof Kahwa (DeanFPAS) , Prof. Lalor, Paulette Mitchell (CHASE Fund) , John Preston, Leslie Hoo Fung, Richard hanson, Dr. Robin Rattray

ICP-OES

Research Reactor Technical Meeting in Vienna

ICENS installs new ICP Spectrometer With the assistance of the CHASE Fund, ICENS recently added to its analytical capabilities with installa-tion of an instrument for Induc-

tively Coupled Plasma Op-tical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). ICP-OES will bring multi-

element capability and therefore reduced analysis times over the technique previously used, Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). In addition, the excellent linear dynamic range of ICP-OES of five or more orders of magnitude will virtually eliminate the need for sample dilution and re-analysis that plagued AAS, and therefore further increase the analytical throughput. The instrument, a Perkin Elmer Optima 7000DV (for

Dual View), can be oper-ated in either axial or radial mode, viewing emission from the plasma either end on for greater sensitivity or side-on for elements present at higher concentrations. Mode selection can be done under computer control and mixed-mode operation within a single method is possible.

Contributed by: Dr. Robin Rattray

Agency (IAEA) at the Vi-enna International Centre. Most delegates reported that their facilities had up to date safety analysis reports, operational limits and con-ditions and emergency plans. It was also hoped that Jamaica could fully imple-ment a functioning regula-tory body empowered by

From June 2nd to June 5th 2009, licensed operator Mr. Johann Antoine attended

the Technical Meet-ing on the Safety of Research Reactors under Project and Supply Agreements at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy

legislation. It was noted that most of the research reactors under the project and supply agreements have been operating for 25 years or longer and so the implementation of an ageing management system is imperative. Research reactors achieved seventy percent of their scheduled operating time with no incidents reported of radiation overexposure.

By Johann Antoine

The instrument was com-missioned and handed over to ICENS on June 11, 2009 at a brief ceremony at which CHASE, UWI and Perkin Elmer representa-tives were present. Photo: Steve Thompson , Perkin Elmer Service Engi-neer, alongside Dr.. Robin Rattray.

A section of the Vienna

International Centre (VIC)

Building

I C E N S E - N E W S

Re-Shimming of Reactor P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2

Mr. Manfred Muhler, IAEA/ACL consultant, visited the centre to assist with the re-shimming of the SLOWPOKE II reactor .

The process ofre-shimming can be quite a dangerous task as it involves

potential exposure to dangerous levels of radiation. The Shims are located deep within the housing of the

reactor core and need to be skillfully re-moved to avoid damage.

Scientist have to observe all the necessary precautions when per-forming this procedure. The re-shimming was completed with no incidence.

garding Radiological Procedures” was given by Mr. Craige Boyd, ICENS. In attendance was the Ja-maican delegation on the Mega-ports Initiative; representatives from the Department of Enegy (DOE), the National Nuclear Secu-rity Administration (NNSA) and the Pacific Northwest National Labora-tory (PNNL).

Contributed by Craige Boyd

The Second Line of Defense(SLD) Megaports Training was conducted at the Volpentest HAMMER Train-ing and Education Center in Rich-land, WA. Training involved the interdiction of weapons of Mass destruction including detection of illicit radioactive materials. To com-plete the seminar a presentation prepared by Craige Boyd and Joan Thomas on “Jamaican Laws Re-

was the first of a series of three (3) courses organized in the frame of the training activities of the MADEIRA project. The course dove into the fundamen-tal aspects and current research trends in radiation physics, de-tector technology and medical imaging from the point of view of nuclear medicine applica-tions. Contributed by Craige Boyd

Participants from the MADEIRA training

The Minimizing Activity and Dose with Enhanced Image quality by Radiopharmaceutical Administrations (MADEIRA) project co-funded by the Euro-pean Commission within the Seventh Euratom Framework Programme, was a training course aimed at reducing the exposure of the patient to radia-tion in nuclear medicine, through the improvement of the imaging process. The training

Mr. Man-fred Muhler on top of the rector housing

MADEIRA training course

SLD Mega-ports Training Presentation on “Jamaican Laws Regarding Radio-logical Proce-dures” conducted at the Hanford Nuclear Site Richland, Wash-ington U.S.A.

“Minimizing

Activity and Dose

with Enhanced

Image quality by

Radiopharmaceu

tical

Administrations”

could be recycled for profit, and how easy it was, they said ‘I can do this too’,” says Dr. Lalor. Backyard smelt-ing contaminated play areas and other places throughout the community. Children who ate the dirt, sucked their fingers, or played outside ab-sorbed large amounts of the heavy

Ms. Sasha Henriques of the IAEA Vienna visited the centre earlier this year. Ms Henriques was collecting information for an article to be pub-lished in the IAEA Bulletin in Septem-ber.

Please see the following excerpt from the article:

““Progress gave us this problem,” says Dr. Gerald Lalor, who heads the International Centre for Environ-mental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS) in Jamaica, whose work is supported by the IAEA and funded by the Envi-ronmental Foundation of Jamaica, the Jamaican Government, the Inter-American Development Bank, the CHASE Foundation and the Univer-sity of the West Indies.

“When people realized that batteries

Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)

Summer Programme

The Office Of the Prime Minister Sum-mer Program allowed University students from all backgrounds to be able to partici-pants in on the job training. Students visited with ICENS for one month and were able to participate in activities of the Centre from sample preparation to analy-sis. Students were also able to interact with experienced staff members in areas such as GIS and computer programming.

“Overall the experience was a good one” said Rochelle , one of the OPM Summer programme participants, at the send off social organized for the students by ICENS.

IAEA and OPM visitors to the Centre

IAEA Journalist Ms. Henriques (second from Left) is seen enjoying a light moment with beneficiaries of ICENS Lead projects

We’re on the web! www.icens.org

VISIT US AT WWW.ICENS.ORG

International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences

2 Anguilla Close, Mona Campus,

University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

876-927-1777 (Tel) 876-977-0768 (Fax)

icens@uwimona.edu.jm

Director-General - Prof. G. Lalor