The Federal Government has urged
operators in the oil and gas sector to uphold stipulated regulations set
by the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources and
Chairperson of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,
Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, who said this, encouraged service
providers in the industry to cooperate with the NNRA.
She said this would ensure an effective monitoring of nuclear application in the sector.
Alison-Madueke made the plea in a
keynote address at the technical meeting on regulating nuclear
application in the oil and gas sector organised by the NNRA in Abuja.
She observed that as the biggest
importer of radioactive materials in the country, petroleum industry
operators must conform to basic safety and security standards.
The minister explained that nuclear
applications in Nigeria’s petroleum industry were not new and stressed
that some companies had close to 200 radioactive materials.
These materials, she said, were high-risk substances and may cause serious concern if not properly controlled.
She said, “It was for concerns such as
these that, among others, led to the promulgation of the Nuclear Safety
and Radiation Protection Act in 1995 at the behest of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, and the subsequent establishment of the NNRA in
2001.”
Alison-Madueke said NNRA had the responsibility for Nuclear Safety and Radiological Protection Regulation.
She said the regulator was also saddled
with the mandate of protecting the environment from the harmful effects
of ionising radiation.
She said, “The need for the NNRA to
safely regulate nuclear applications by bringing them effectively under
control cannot be overemphasised.
“This shall also ensure the safety and
health of personnel involved in their usage, as well as the safety of
other members of the public.”
The minister informed that the NNRA had
been able to achieve its mandate through a system of registration,
licensing and inspection of practices involving ionising radiation and
the overall enforcement of compliance with the provisions of the Act.
She outlined the safety and practice
specific regulation guidelines achieved by the NNRA as the Nigerian
Basic Ionising Radiation Regulations of 2003, Nigerian Safety and
Security of Radioactive Sources Regulations, Nigerian Transportation of
Radioactive Sources Regulations and Nigeria Radiation Safety in
Industrial Radiography Regulations.
Others are Nigeria Radioactive Waste
Management Regulations, Nigerian Radiation Safety in Nuclear Well
Logging Regulations and Nigerian Naturally Occurring Radioactive
Materials Regulations.
In his address, the Acting
Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, NNRA, Mr. Martin Ogharandukun,
said over 80 per cent of all radioactive sources imported into Nigeria
were used in the oil and gas sector.
He said the sources were used for nuclear gauging, industrial radiography and nuclear well logging among others.
He said most of the sources were
itinerant and they placed high oversight challenges on users, adding
that they also involved the risk of loss of control due to theft,
sabotage, unauthorised transfers and accidents.
These, Ogharandukun said, could result in unintended exposure and their consequential deleterious effects.
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