RUMBLINGS ON the international political scene about nuclear proliferation did not prevent a small group of international scientists from convening yesterday their planned workshop on small research nuclear reactors at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).
However, both the UWI's Vice Chancellor Professor Rex Nettleford and International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS) director, Professor Gerald Lalor, were quick to point out that the focus of nuclear research on the campus was not for warfare but on the more benign aspects of this sort of study which enhances socio-economic development.
The main thrust of research using ICENS' SLOWPOKE nuclear reactor has been on environmental geochemistry and its application to agriculture and health. Considerable work has been done in mapping the country's geochemical profile, especially in respect to heavy metals such as lead and cadmium.
This theme of the importance of small research nuclear reactors in socio-economic development was referred to by Delano Franklyn, the State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, as he delivered the presentation, on behalf of Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, to officially open the workshop.
He said that scientific knowledge and the application of appropriate technology are prerequisites for increased productivity and national growth. However, he noted that the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the technology for manufacturing such weapons were matters of concern for Jamaica's Government.
"We have been consistent in our support for UN resolutions and action aimed at avoiding any possible use of such weapons, and at prohibiting their spread," Mr. Franklyn said.
He said that Jamaica remains committed to the safe and peaceful uses of nuclear energy and that this was demonstrated in the country's long-standing membership in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the support of that organisation's Safeguards Protocols.
The five-day workshop is being presented by ICENS, in collaboration with the IAEA, and will examine the achievements and applications of small research reactors in various countries and devise strategies for future collaboration among countries using small nuclear reactors.
