Nuclear Security Awakening- Strengthening Response Mechanism

Due to the nature of their operation, mobile sources of category 2 and 3 are vulnerable and prone to be out of regulatory control. In February 2017, two (2) units of gamma projectors belongs to an authorized industrial radiography company in Malaysia were stolen from a vehicle parked at their commercial building. Through a joint search operation between Malaysian authorities, the stolen gamma projectors contained Ir-192 sources with activities of 43.6 Ci and 35.8 Ci respectively were found dismantled at a nearby residential area. Although missing and theft of such sources was not the first occurrence in Malaysia, the plot of this event was the first of its kind; where the sources were intentionally removed and left at the public area. This event was escalated from normal missing cases towards public evacuation event that require for immediate radiological emergency response. Learning from this case, Malaysian authorities conducted an immediate reformed towards approach of our long standing cooperation to integrate the control measures. In the current approach, our joint responsibilities begin as early as awareness programme to the users and public at large up to conducting joint investigation. Existing SOPs for response within Malaysian authority are now integrated for both security and safety response measures. The Royal Malaysian police (RMP) has specifically established internal task force to properly developed overall capacity of their forces to better address nuclear security threat. Authorization and inspection programme within Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) are also updated to address the gaps identified as lesson learned from the incident. The AELB and RMP are now more equipped with better SOPs and knowledge to address nuclear security in Malaysia. Through this incident, Malaysia has also reaffirmed our belief on the important role of capacity building programme and the strong interface between preventive and reactive control for both materials under regulatory control and outside regulatory control. (author)