Mahmud Kerimov: "Azerbaijan's Emergency Situation Ministry challenges our further cooperation with IAEA"

- IAEA experts visited Baku last week. Which issues were discussed during the talks held here?

- The main subject of talks was the state of affairs on the program of our technical cooperation with IAEA and the second and the most important is that IAEA representatives voiced their concern over the situation in the regulation of the issues of radiation security in our country.

As is known, President of Azerbaijan has signed a decree on creation of a special agency on radiation security. This agency was created under the Emergency Situations Ministry. But unfortunately this agency is still idle, which bothers IAEA.

We can not further implement any projects or request any assistance from IAEA until the issue of regulating the radiation security is settled and until we have a local structure, which would really be responsible for registering, storage and treatment of radioactive substances.

The issue is that if such an effective regulating structure is not created, our further technical operations with IAEA are doubtful.

- Isn't there a hope that this elementary issue will be settled, if the price is so high?

- I am sure that there is hope. The most important is that we have long been waiting for creation of the regulating organization. Finally, this structure has been created. But the question is when it is going to start working. I hope that this issue will be settled by the end of the year, this organization will work out its charter, main norms and rules of radiation security, new rules of treatment of radioactive isotops, their storage, transportation and so on, that is all these necessary elements for specialist's access to radiation sources.

Today, with IAEA's help we received sufficient number of radioisotope production, facilities, radioactive isotops and so on. But their use is prohibited even in line with IAEA standards, as it before beginning to use them, there should be a structure, which would license this activity after positive result is received in a preliminary inspection of the level of compliance with the rules of radiation security. If the rules are not adhered to the organization has a right to ban this activity.

However, as I have already mentioned, we still not have such an organization and in the result it turns out that our activity with radioactive sources is illegal.

IAEA is right to be concerned with it and it demands from Azerbaijan to settle all these issues as soon as possible for this agency to start functioning after which our cooperation will further continue. At the same time, I would like to note that this cooperation was successful enough, we fulfilled our financial and other duties, in turn, this organization also fulfilled its duties, providing large technical support to us. We would secure relations with IAEA and for these relations we should fulfill the said simple instructions.

- Does the issue settlement fully depend on the leadership of the Ministry of Emergency Situations?

- Yes. The due agency within the Ministry has already been created but the leader of this agency and the structure have not been defined yet. It should start functioning, otherwise, any use of radioactive materials here are illegal, as this activity is not sanctioned.

All countries have such a regulatory structure, including committees on nuclear energy, committees on radioactive security, different agencies and others. But regardless of how this organization is called, its main function is to ensure norms and rules of radiation security in the country.

- They say that the regulation of norms of radiation security is necessary in different spheres, including oncology. Is it true?

- Yes. For example, there is a clinic, which uses radioisotopic production or ionic rays and accelerates and there are additional backgrounds of radiation. The volume of this background and its norm and all other issues should be regulated by the structure, we are speaking of. Therefore, it is called regulatory that is controlling  the elementary norms of use of radioactive materials and sources of ionic rays. These norms are established throughout the world and if they are established they should work here as well.

/Day.Az/