The opening remarks began with remarks by Acting Chairman of BAPETEN, Sugeng Sumbarjo, who stated, "I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the IAEA, the speakers, and the participants. I hope to encourage all participants to actively engage in the discussion and exchange insights to broaden our understanding."

The Head of BAPETEN's Education and Training Division, Ahmad Ciptadi Syurvavin, added, "To maintain the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management, BAPETEN, as the Indonesian representative, affirms our commitment to actively participate and contribute by sharing experiences in these areas. Furthermore, the purpose of this workshop is to inform the public about the benefits and explain the process for complying with Spent Fuel Management Safety and Radioactive Waste Management Safety."

This activity was attended by 20 participants from several countries, including Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Iran, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, and BAPETEN, representing Indonesia. Experts present at the activity were Nelli Aghajanyan and Irene Bollozos Semana from the Division of Radiation, Transport, and Waste Safety of the IAEA; and Can Viet Tuan, VARANS, Vietnam.

This activity addressed the safety issues of spent fuel and radioactive waste management on a global scale, establishing basic safety principles and establishing a peer review process similar to that for nuclear safety.

This activity applies to spent fuel generated from the operation of civilian nuclear reactors and radioactive waste generated from civilian applications. The Convention also applies to spent fuel and radioactive waste from military or defense programs if such materials are permanently transferred to and managed within exclusively civilian programs or if they are declared spent fuel or radioactive waste for the purposes of the Convention by the Contracting Party concerned.

Furthermore, this joint convention also covers the planned and controlled release into the environment of liquid or gaseous radioactive material from regulated nuclear facilities. The IAEA is currently encouraging its members to ratify the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and Radioactive Safety in their countries.

This activity is relevant not only for countries with large nuclear power programs, but also for countries that use radiation sources in medicine, industry, agriculture, and research.

This activity is expected to increase understanding of the Joint Convention, familiarize them with the processes and meetings within the Joint Convention through dialogue, share best practices, and strengthen collaboration among countries. (BHKK/CD/Translator: GP)