ICENS E-News December Edition

Publication of ICENS

Dr. Robin Rattray and Ms. Tracey-Ann Warner attended their second training course held by the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) from July 6-10, 2009 at the Me-dallion Hall hotel.

The course continued to prepare potential technical assessors for inspection of laboratories in Ja-maica seeking accreditation to the international standard ISO/IEC 17025.

Other attendees included representatives from the Bureau of Standards, Veterinary Services Division,

Caribbean Regional Drug Testing Laboratory, National Water Commission, Environmental Solutions Ltd. and the Government Chemist Department .

Hope Mine is situated to the northeast of the University of the West Indies Mona campus and includes Kintyre and Hope Flat communities which have been the target of well documented studies since the 90’s. The Social Development Commission estimated resi-dential population at over 3500 (SDC, 1998) for the combined communities, how-ever the resident’s estimates

far exceed this, putting much emphasis on the division and growth of the communities. Dwellings in the past have been mostly wooden and zinc structures; now more perma-nent concrete structures are being erected, an indication that the people plan to be there for some time. Kameaka Duncan, Scientific Officer, stated that, “Unfortunately,

the legacy of lead still contin-ues in this community.”

Scientific Officer touring a sec-tion of the Kintyre Community

Dr. Robin Rattray (Left) and Miss Tracey Ann Warner (second from left) with fellow trainees at the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC)

ICENS gets in gear for ISO17025

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Kintyre revisited

1

ICENS installs new ICP

2

Meeting in Vienna 2

MADEIRA train-ing course IAEA Journalist

3

SLD Mega ports Training

3

Re-shimming of Reactor

3

OPM Summer Programme

4

Kintyre revisited

I C E N S , U W I M O N A

ICENS E-news D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 9 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2

S P E C I A L P O I N T S O F I N T E R E S T :

• Installation of

new ICP Spectrometer

• ICENS staff

get training to become ISO17025 assessors

• Re-shimming

of Nuclear Reactor

• Research

Reactor Tech-nical Meeting in Vienna


P A G E 2

“Research reactors

achieved seventy

percent of their

scheduled operating

time with no incidents

reported of radiation

overexposure”

Renee Chin (CHASE Project Officer), Prof Kahwa (DeanFPAS) , Prof. Lalor, Paulette Mitchell (CHASE Fund) , John Preston, Leslie Hoo Fung, Richard hanson, Dr. Robin Rattray

ICP-OES

Research Reactor Technical Meeting in Vienna

ICENS installs new ICP Spectrometer With the assistance of the CHASE Fund, ICENS r e c e n t l y added to its a n a l y t i c a l capabilities with installa-tion of an i n s t r u me n t for Induc-

tively Coupled Plasma Op-tical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). ICP-OES will bring multi-

element capability and therefore reduced analysis times over the technique previously used, Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). In addition, the excellent linear dynamic range of ICP-OES of five or more orders of magnitude will virtually eliminate the need for sample dilution and re-analysis that plagued AAS, and therefore further increase the analytical throughput. The instrument, a Perkin Elmer Optima 7000DV (for

Dual View), can be oper-ated in either axial or radial mode, viewing emission from the plasma either end on for greater sensitivity or side-on for elements present at higher concentrations. Mode selection can be done under computer control and mixed-mode operation within a single method is possible.

Contributed by: Dr. Robin Rattray

Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Vienna International Centre. Most delegates re-ported that their facilities had up to date safety analy-sis reports, operational lim-its and conditions and emer-gency plans. It was also hoped that Jamaica could fully implement a function-ing regulatory body em-

From June 2nd to June 5th 2009, licensed operator Mr.

Johann Antoine attended the Tech-nical Meeting on the Safety of Re-search Reactors under Project and Supply Agreements at the headquarters

of the International Atomic

powered by legislation. It was noted that most of the research reactors un-der the project and supply agreements have been operating for 25 years or longer and so the implementation of an ageing management system is im-perative. Research reactors achieved seventy percent of their scheduled operating time with no incidents re-ported of radiation overexposure.

Contributed by Johann Antoine

The instrument was com-missioned and handed over to ICENS on June 11, 2009 at a brief ceremony at which CHASE, UWI and Perkin Elmer representa-tives were present. Photo: Steve Thompson, Perkin Elmer Service Engi-neer, alongside Dr. Robin Rattray.

A section of the Vienna

International Centre (VIC)

Building

I C E N S E - N E W S


Re-Shimming of Reactor P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2

Mr. Manfred Muhler, Interna-tional Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) con-sultant visited the centre to as-sist to assist Mr. Charles Grant the ICENS Reactor Manager

with the re-shimming of the SLOWPOKE II reac-tor. The reactor has a life time core that typically has to be reshimmed every 3 to 4 years to com-pensate for the effects of the fuel burn up.

The current reactor core (HEU) which has a further 15 years useful life, is scheduled to be replaced with a low enrichment core (LEU) within the next 2 to 3 years as part of the global effort to reduce the civilian use of high en-richment fuel.

Mr. Charles Grant and Johanne Antoine share a light moment with Mr. Muhler

garding Radiological Procedures” was given by Mr. Craige Boyd, ICENS. In attendance was the Ja-maican delegation on the Mega-ports Initiative; representatives from the Department of Enegy (DOE), the National Nuclear Secu-rity Administration (NNSA) and the Pacific Northwest National Labora-tory (PNNL).

Contributed by Craige Boyd

The Second Line of Defense(SLD) Megaports Training was conducted at the Volpentest HAMMER Train-ing and Education Center in Rich-land, WA. Training involved the interdiction of weapons of Mass destruction including detection of illicit radioactive materials. To com-plete the seminar a presentation prepared by Craige Boyd and Joan Thomas on “Jamaican Laws Re-

was the first of a series of three (3) courses organized in the frame of the training activities of the MADEIRA project. The course dove into the fundamen-tal aspects and current research trends in radiation physics, de-tector technology and medical imaging from the point of view of nuclear medicine applica-tions. Contributed by Craige Boyd

Participants from the MADEIRA training

The Minimizing Activity and Dose with Enhanced Image quality by Radiopharmaceutical Administrations (MADEIRA) project co-funded by the Euro-pean Commission within the Seventh Euratom Framework Programme, was a training course aimed at reducing the exposure of the patient to radia-tion in nuclear medicine, through the improvement of the imaging process. The training

Mr. Man-fred Muhler on top of the rector housing

MADEIRA training course

SLD Mega-ports Training Presentation on “Jamaican Laws Regarding Radio-logical Proce-dures” conducted at the Hanford Nuclear Site Richland, Wash-ington U.S.A.

“Minimizing Activity

and Dose with

Enhanced Image quality

by Radiopharmaceutical

Administrations”


P A G E 4



P A G E 5 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2


P A G E 6

Collaboration , con-versations and ex-change of ideas over coffee...

ICENS website revamped

IAEA Marine Lab in Monaco

Visit from Columbian Scientist,

Mr. Jaime Sandoval Mr. Jaime Sandoval, Reactor Manager, from the Colombian State Mining and Geology Bureau (INGEOMINAS) in Bogotá, Columbia, visited ICENS to learn more about SLOWPOKE II op-eration in Jamaica and to assist in de-velopment of a strategic plan for their institution in Columbia.

Mr. Sandoval was guided by Mr. Charles Grant , Head of the Nuclear Analytical Laboratory at ICENS.

Joke Corner:

One day an atom was walk-ing down the street and came across another atom sitting on the sidewalk, hold-ing his head in his hands, sobbing. “What’s the mat-ter?” the first atom asks.

“I’ve lost an electron!” Was the tearful reply.

“Are you sure?” said the concerned atom.

“Yes, I’m positive!”

Contributed by Dr. Robin

Rattray

sis of marine sample types including water, sediment, fish and other seafood. Miss Hoo Fung was the only participant from the West-ern Hemisphere, with other participants coming from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Cyprus,

Miss Leslie Ann Hoo Fung attended the MED POL Trace Elements Analysis training course at the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency’s Marine Environ-ment Laboratory in Monaco from October 19-30, 2009. The course covered sam-pling, treatment and analy-

Morocco, Israel, Bosnia and Montenegro.

Contributed by Miss Leslie Hoo- Fung

The website now features a more interactive home page with colorful graphics and excerpts from various project undertaken by the centre.

There is a very useful link to the various publication by ICENS which includes scientific journals as well as E-newsletters.

Feel free to visit the website at www.icens.org and send us your feedback via the “Contact Us” page.

Contributed by Kameaka J. Duncan

The ICENS website has been undergo-ing several changes in an attempt to improve the overall appeal of the site.

Dr. Paul Wright is leading the efforts to revamp the web-site.

Participants in the MED POL training course and IAEA MEL

Personnel Julie LeNormand, Sabine Azemard and Emilia

Vasileva-Veleva



IAEA Guatemala P A G E 7 V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2

The Regional workshop on

technical quality assurance re-

quirements, method validation

and uncertainty estimation was

held in Guatemala City, 28 Sep-

tember – 2 October 2009, under the TC Pro-

ject RLA/2/014/9001.01. It was aimed at

improving the analytical quality through

proficiency testing and certification of ma-

trix reference materials using nuclear and

related analytical techniques in the Latin

American Analytical Techniques network

(ARCAL).

The participants in the workshop

were expected to be actively engaged in ana-

lytical laboratories and a good knowledge of

statistics related to method validation. The

major thrust of the workshop was in method

validation and uncertainty estimation includ-

ing: validation planning, validation protocol,

collection of data for validation parameters

calculation, estimation of repeatability, repro-

ducibility, method minimum detection limit,

recovery factor and trueness within the

method validation procedure.

Participants in the Workshops in-

cluded personnel from participating laborato-

ries in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay,

Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Chile, Panama, Co-

lombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guate-

mala and El Salvador. The instructor of the

course materials were from Vienna, Austria

and Madrid, Spain.

Contributed by Miss Tracey-Ann Warner

Miss Warner (ICENS, Jamaica)

with participants from the Re-

gional workshop on technical

quality assurance requirements,

method validation and uncer-

tainty estimation

chemistry, land use information, satel-lite imagery, etc. The primary objective of the EShare digital repository is to provide data storage and access for environmental "data", to facilitate in-formed evidence based policy making. In addition to storage of content, EShare will provide various web map-ping and spatial analysis tools to assist users in viewing and manipulating the data.

The agencies currently maintaining EShare collections are Environmental Management Division Office of the Prime Minister, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences UWI, Rural Physical Planning Division Ministry of Agricul-

ture (RPPD) along with ICENS. Other public sector agencies, Non Governmental Organi-zations (NGO), and UWI departments have expressed and interest in participating and will be approached shortly to join.

Contributed by Mr. John Preston.

The ICENS Data Center is spearheading a project that is developing an environmental data sharing service for Jamaica. EShare is a digital repository service that stores, preserves, and provides a central point of access for digital materials re-lated to the Jamaican environ-ment.

it is a partnership between Ja-maican public sector agencies and other stakeholders con-cerned with the environment, and will provide quick and easy access to data such as soil

Data Sharing Project:


IAEA and OPM visitors to the Centre Gerald Lalor, who heads the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS) in Jamaica, whose work is supported by the IAEA and funded by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica, the Jamaican Government, the Inter-American Development Bank, the CHASE Foundation and the University of the West Indies.

“When people realized that batteries could be recycled for profit, and how easy it was, they said ‘I can do this too’,” says Dr. Lalor.

Backyard smelting contaminated play areas and other places throughout the community. Children who ate the dirt, sucked their fingers, or played outside absorbed large amounts of the heavy metal.”

Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)

Summer Programme

The Office Of the Prime Minister Sum-mer Program allowed University students from all backgrounds to be able to par-ticipants in on the job training.

Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)

Summer Programme

Ms. Sasha Henriques of the IAEA Vienna visited the centre earlier this year. Ms Henriques was collecting information for an article to be published in the IAEA Bulletin in September.

Please see the following excerpt from the article:

““Progress gave us this problem,” says

Students visited with ICENS for one month and were able to participate in activities of the Cen-tre from sample preparation to analysis. Students were also able to interact with experienced staff members in areas such as GIS and computer programming.

“Overall the experience was a good one” said Rochelle , one of the OPM Summer programme participants, at the send off so-cial organized for the students by ICENS.

IAEA Journalist Ms. Henriques (second from Left) is seen enjoy-ing a light moment with benefici-aries of ICENS Lead projects

Mr. Philmore , Ms. Roshelle and Ms. Philicia and Mr. Johnatan (above) along with Mr. Norty Antoine, who is not pic-tured above, were part of the Programme.

studies in the Jamaican en-vironment Sampling and analytical methods for soils, rocks, stream sediments, and water The distribution in soils of thirty-two elements. Data on surface and under-ground waters for the stan-dard parameters and for the metals: Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn

Upon the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the National Library of Jamaica a copy of the Geochemical Atlas of Jamaica an ICENS publication was do-nated to the National Library. The Atlas features reports on the first stages of the examination of the geochemistry of Jamaican soils. Appropriate sample types, sam-pling methods and sample treat-ments for regional geochemical

Ms. Valerie G. Francis, Acquisitions Librarian. Thanked Prof. Gerald Lalor for his contribution to the Library’s collec-tion.

30th Anniversary of the National Library of Jamaica

A map from the Geochemical Atlas of Jamaica with the Distri-bution of chromium in the soils across the island


We’re on the web! www.icens.org

VISIT US AT WWW.ICENS.ORG

International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences

2 Anguilla Close, Mona Campus,

University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica

876-927-1777 (Tel) 876-977-0768 (Fax)

[email protected]

Director-General - Prof. Gerald Lalor

ICENS E-News December Edition

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