The head of the IAEA expert delegation, Jing Zhang, his associates and Director of Serbian Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Security Directorate, Sladjan Velinov and other SRBATOM representatives visited yesterday the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences.

At the meeting held at the Institute its representatives presented the guests with the history, work and competencies of the Institute, as well as with the projects this biggest research center in the field of natural sciences has carried out with the IAEA and through the support of the Directorate.

After the meeting, the hosts took the guests from the IAEA and SRBATOM for a tour of the platform within the Center for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) forensics and education, specially developed to conduct trainings in the field of CBRN security. The training courses in this Center are devised so as to offer its trainees a thorough understanding of actions and response in case of incidents involving CBRN agents, proper use of protection and detection equipment, as well as proper application of crucial protocols and procedures.

Afterwards, the IAEA representatives visited the Department of Radiation and Environmetal Protection and its calibration services as a unique infrastructure in the Republic of Serbia where all the equipment used for the measurement of ionizing radiation in medicine and industry is used. Such measurement and calibrating services are authorized by Serbian Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Security Directorate, accredited by the Accreditation Body of Serbia and recognized by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which means that the staff in this Department have unique and specific knowledge in the field of metrology.

The guests also visited the Department of Radioisotopes as a unique scientific and research centre in the region, where they had the opportunity to see the most advanced equipment and infrastructure, partly donated by the IAEA, used for the production of radioactive medicines – radiopharmaceuticals in the diagnostics and therapy of different diseases, especially the malign ones, in all nuclear and medical centres in the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska.