18 Apr SAHPRA’s Radiation Control Unit Hosts Workshops with US Counterparts
Pretoria, 18 April 2024 – The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) hosted a Radiation Control Workshop with the Office for Radiological Security (ORS) located within the United States Department of Energy around developing a guideline for the security of radioactive sources during transportation. The workshop took place at SAHPRA’s Cape Town Regional Office during 19 – 22 March 2024.
SAHPRA’s Dr Dimakatso Mathibe, Senior Manager: of Medical Devices and Radiation Control presented the opening address where she shared her expectations of the workshop.
Understanding the security of radioactive sources
Radioactive sources have the potential to cause harm. They do however play an important role in commercial, medical, and research applications. If a high-activity radioactive source falls into the wrong hands, it could be used for a radiological dispersal device (a “dirty bomb”) or in other acts of terrorism. Most of the radiological incidents happen during the transport of radioactive sources. The focus of the workshop was therefore to develop a guideline to mitigate the loss of radioactive sources during transport. The workshop led to the development of an interim guideline.
“It was a privilege to get to work with you and jointly develop a draft transportation security guidance document for SAHPRA,” said Karen Kaldenbach, an ORS representative. She further expressed the willingness and availability of ORS to assist in ensuring the process is driven to its completion. Nico Uys, Senior Radiation Scientist at SAHPRA, expressed gratitude for the hard work and the spirit of collaboration that led to the development of the draft guideline.