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DDG-TC's Official Visit to Cuba
At the end of March 2017, Mr Dazhu Yang, Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Technical Cooperation (TC) at the IAEA, visited Cuba. He was accompanied by Mr Saul Perez Pijuan, Section Head of Technical Cooperation Latin America and the Caribbean Section 2, and Mr Daniel Lopez Aldama, President of AENTA (Agencia de Energía Nuclear y Tecnologías de Avanzada), during his visit. Cuba has been an IAEA Member State since 1957 and is an active participant in the Technical Cooperation Programme in various fields of activity, including human health, food safety, agriculture, water and the environment, and radiation safety.
Mr Yang, Mr Perez Pijuan, and Mr Lopez Aldama visited Mr Abelardo Moreno Fernandez, Deputy Foreign Minister of Cuba.
The Centre for Technology Applications and Nuclear Development (CEADEN) has had a long history of partnership with the IAEA. The Centre was inaugurated by former President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, and former Director General of the IAEA, Hans Blix, in 1987. Ms Angelina Diaz García, Director of CEADEN, gave the IAEA visitors a tour through the research irradiation facilities, which were set up with the support of the IAEA.
Ms Mayka Guerrero, project leader, indicates on a model the new cyclotron, radiopharmaceuticals production and linear accelerator facilities under construction at the Medical and Surgical Research centre (CIMEQ).
During the visit, the IAEA delegation had the chance to meet Ms Myrta Kaulard, UN Resident Coordinator, together with the UN Country Team.
The IAEA technical cooperation programme is supporting the provision of services by the Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory at the Centre for Radiation Protection and Hygiene (CPHR). Ms Gladys Mercedes López Bejerano, former TC fellow and now Director at CPHR, welcomed the delegation and explained the activities of the Centre.
Mr Yang visited the central radioactive waste storage facility managed by CPHR. Ms Mercedes Salgado, project leader of project RLA9078, ‘Enhancing Governmental and Regulatory Safety Infrastructure to Meet the Requirements of the New IAEA Basic Safety Standards’, explains the work carried out with IAEA assistance to collect, characterize, condition and store radioactive wastes generated by various applications in the country.
At the Centre of Isotopes (CENTIS), which is now able to provide 95% of the radiopharmaceutical that Cuba needs for its nuclear medicine services, the IAEA delegation was shown the Centre’s newly installed equipment, provided with the assistance of the IAEA project CUB6023, ‘Enhancing the Production and Use of 99Mo/99mTc Generators through Compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice and Quality Management Requirements’.
During the visit to the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences (INCA), Mr Yang saw first hand the impact of national TC projects on mutation breeding. He was accompanied by Ms María Caridad González Cepero, counterpart for the TC project RLA5068, ‘Improving Yield and Commercial Potential of Crops of Economic Importance (ARCAL CL)’.
The IAEA delegation visited the Institute of Soils to discuss the work done to decrease the use of pesticides in agriculture and to assess the impact of the ongoing project CUB5019, ‘Strengthening National Capacity for Monitoring Heavy Metals to Improve Soil and Food Quality Using Nuclear and Related Techniques’.
On 22 March, World Water Day, Mr Yang attended the inauguration of the Caribbean Regional Ocean Acidification Observatory in Cienfuegos. The observatory, part of the Centre for Environmental Studies of Cienfuegos (CEAC), is located in the Faro Luna Diving Centre in the south central province of the country. The centre that is also supported by AENTA and the IAEA, is able to perform complex analysis, such as mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, high resolution gamma spectrometry, and microwave digestion systems, using equipment procured through IAEA TC , to ensure high level water quality.
Mr Yang visited the laboratories of CEAC, where he viewed coral samples obtained and analysed with equipment provided with IAEA assistance. Coral is a useful tool for scientists who want to understand past changes in the climate. Scientists at CEAC can determine the age of samples by measuring their radioactive decay.
Mr Yang meets fishermen of the community Castillo del Jagua, Cienfuegos, who benefit from the marine sample analysis systematically conducted by CEAC.
During the visit to the National Oncology and Radiobiology Institute (INOR) Mr Yang visited its modern radiotherapy facilities, including the superficial radiotherapy equipment for the treatment of skin cancer, which was procured through the TC programme.
The Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery (ICCC) has been supported as the national reference centre in cardiology with capacity building activities and equipment.
Mr Yang and the whole delegation also had the pleasure to meet elderly citizens of the Cuban School of Wushu who have participated in TC projects in the area of nutrition using stable isotopes techniques. They were the subject of studies conducted to improve the quality of life of older people through the early diagnosis of sarcopenia.
On the last day of his visit, Mr Yang met with H.E. Elba Rosa Pérez, Minister of Science, Technology and Environment.
Special thanks to:
Mr José Fidel Santana Núñez, CITMA |
AENTA team |
Raquel Scamilla Andreo Aledo & Saul Perez Pijuan, Department of Technical Cooperation
Photos from the field provided by: AENTA
Captions & Arrangement: Julia Krickl, IAEA Department of Technical Cooperation
©2017 IAEA Department of Technical Cooperation