National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) CEO Dr Bismark Tyobeka has been elected to serve as president of the sixth review meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.
The joint convention was adopted on September 5, 1997, and entered into force on June 18, 2001, establishing an international peer review process among contracting parties and providing incentives for nations to take appropriate steps to bring their nuclear activities into compliance with general safety standards and practices.
South Africa acceded to the joint convention on November 15, 2006.
Tyobeka will work closely with the convention’s two VPs – Geoff Williams from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency and Douglas Tonkay, from the US Department of Energy – to encourage constructive discussions on key issues faced by parties to the convention.
He will also engage with regional networks, in particular those that form part of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Global Nuclear Safety and Security Network to assist member States, who are not already contracting parties to the joint convention to become contracting parties.