Nuclear power will be a hot topic at:
- Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines, and the Environment, Aziz Rebbah, has inaugurated Morocco’s first national Training Centre in Nuclear Science and Technology.
- The centre aims to provide professional training and academic facilities to build skills in safe nuclear practices.
The National Centre for Nuclear Energy, Sciences and Techniques (CNESTEN) will train 200 executives and technicians annually and will support various specialised doctoral and Masters courses in collaboration with local universities.
The training centre also aims to strengthen regional capacities in Africa in the field of nuclear science and technology, within the framework of international and regional cooperation programmes.
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CNESTEN will also act as a Collaborating Centre of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ensuring best practices in the fields of resource management, environmental protection and industrial applications.
The Moroccan nuclear facility is the first of its kind in Africa to obtain IAEA’s distinction in more than one area.
In a statement to the press, Rebbah stressed that “the opening of the training centre and the IAEA’s recognition of CNESTEN, are two major achievements.”
He said that the centre welcomes international cooperation by offering training to researchers and professionals from several countries in Africa.
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It is important to underline that at the level of support to the African region, CNESTEN has ensured, over the last 10 years, the deployment of more than 300 technical expertise missions, the organisation of training courses for the benefit of more than a thousand professionals, or the hosting of more than 600 individual internships and scientific stays, making CNESTEN the first institution in terms of training and expertise actions at the scale of the Africa.
At the inauguration, Khalid El Mediouri, director general of CNESTEN, presented the centre’s strategic vision for 2030, which revolves around four main objectives:
- Strengthen and expand the uses of Nuclear Sciences and Techniques in sector strategies and programmes;
- To enrich the national human capital in the field of nuclear sciences and technologies;
- Strengthen the operational nuclear and radiological safety and security regime at the national level;
- Establish the positioning of CNESTEN at the regional level in nuclear science and technology in the service of the regional influence of Morocco.
Author: Pamela Largue
This article was originally published on ESI Africa and is republished with permission with minor editorial changes.
