Radioactive Materials Detection System at the Borders of Burkina Faso; Alert and Assessment Procedure

Burkina Faso became a Member State of the International Atomic Energy Agency in September 1998.The country is not a nuclear state; however radioactive materials are used all around the national territory and enter from other countries mainly through the border by road crossing and airport. Bordered by six countries, Burkina Faso mainly receives shipments of the radioactive materials by the roads from Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Niger and Mali. According to the regulatory data base, between January 2012 and October 2016, 122 shipments of radioactive materials were transported all around the national territory 47% of which were international shipments. The transboundary movements of these dangerous goods deem it necessary to implement relevant detection system considering the national and the regional security threat situation nowadays. A lot of efforts have been made by the government and its partners for personnel capabilities building in nuclear security and also the detection of the radioactive materials at the borders. Indeed, the national legislation and the integrated national security support plan have been developed as a framework to support the implementation of the national nuclear security regime. Furthermore, the IAEA, and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Energy department have supported the country with detection and identification equipments and trainings.