LUSAKA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Zambian government official said on Monday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has pledged to help the country train personnel in nuclear science.
Minister of Higher Education Nkandu Luo said the agency was ready to support the Zambian government in human resource and capacity development as the southern African nation prepares to set up its first-ever nuclear center.
The Zambian minister, who has just returned from attending the 61st regular session of the general conference of the IAEA in Vienna, Austria, said the country needed to interact with countries that were already doing well in nuclear science, according to a statement released by her office.
Zambia, she said, was already working with the Russian government which has agreed to train 40 local people in nuclear science.
In June this year, a Russian firm, Rosatom, signed a project development agreement with the Zambian government, paving the way for the establishment of the Center for Nuclear Science and Technology as well as preliminary feasibility studies into the proposed construction of a nuclear power plant.
The establishment of the center was meant to increase research in health and increase knowledge on other sources of energy that include nuclear energy, the minister said.
Zambia already uses nuclear science in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers at its Cancer Disease Hospital.
