A delegation from the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), headed by commissioner Elvira Romera, is participating this week in the XII Regional Congress on Radiological and Nuclear Safety of the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA), which takes place between the 23rd  and 27th  in Santiago de Chile.

During the conference, the CSN commissioner, Elvira Romera, presented the session entitled "The R&D strategy in the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council and the National Technological Platform for R&D in Radiological Protection". In her presentation, she explained the regulator's strategy in the field of research and development, that has as one of its objectives, to establish and carry out the monitoring of research plans in the field of nuclear safety and radiological protection, as a vehicle to improve regulatory practices. Romera also showed the work carried out by the CSN through the National Radiological Protection R&D Platform (PEPRI, by its acronym in Spanish), which promotes and facilitates interaction between research entities in the field of radiological protection. Currently, the PEPRI platform has around one hundred entities and ten working groups in different areas of radiological protection.

The CSN commissioner also spoke at the round table organised by Women in Nuclear (WiN) within the framework of the Regional Cooperation Agreement for the Promotion of Nuclear Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean (ARCAL) entitled "New ways of living the nuclear sector: opportunities and challenges for the creation of inclusive cultures”. During it, she addressed the visibility of women who are part of this sector with the purpose of creating references and contemplating the active representation of women. In this sense, Romera positively highlighted the evolution towards gender equality in the regulatory bodies and presented the initiatives of the CSN related to this issue, both carried out in the past and the ones that are planned to be carried out in the future, in accordance with the firm commitment of the Spanish regulator in this matter.

This meeting aims to provide an effective communication forum between professionals in the sector, in order to advance in radiological protection around the world, facilitating the application and safe use of ionising radiation in the fields of medicine, industry and science for the benefit of the citizenship.

The conference program allows knowledge to be updated and information to be available on the latest developments in all fields of radiological protection, especially highlighting the culture of radiological and nuclear safety and the new technologies applied to radiological protection. In this sense, the XII IRPA congress is an important meeting point to establish international synergies and strengthen national capacities for radiological protection in these countries or the inclusion of the gender perspective in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Regional Congress of Radiological and Nuclear Safety, IRPA Regional Congress was held for the first time in 1998, coinciding with the IV congress of the association. After 24 editions, the twelfth of these conferences is being held with professionals from the sector from all over Ibero-America.

 

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