FNCA 2021 Study Panel Program (Online) March 3-4, 2021

Climate Change Issue and Utilization of Nuclear Technology in
Environmental Research: Bangladesh Perspective

Mohammad Amirul Islam, Ph.D
Chief Scientific Officer
Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission

Climate Change Issues and Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the highly climate vulnerable countries
with less than 1% of global Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.
Threats due to climate change include here mainly sea levelrise, droughts, floods, and cyclones.
Bangladesh is nevertheless taking steps to reduce its futureemissions through the development of renewable energy, theuse of natural gas (relatively clean) and nuclear energy.
Bangladesh committed to reduce GHG emissions in the power,industry and transport sectors by 5% unconditionally below
BAU (business as usual) GHG emissions by 2030 or by aconditional 15% below BAU GHG emissions within 2030 if
sufficient and appropriate support is received from developed
countries.

As a result, a target set in the power system master plan to deliver
5% of energy from renewable sources including nuclear power by
2015, and 10% by 2020 has been set by the Bangladesh government.

Fig. 1: Projected nuclear power development in PSMP-2016.

Nuclear Technology in Bangladesh for Adaptation with
Climate Change
Bangladesh’s priorities on climate change issues aremainly on adaptation.
• The main research areas inBangladeshforclimatechange adaptation are:-Mutation breeding-Different dating methods (Pb210 and C-14 etc.)

Nuclear Techniques for Environmental Contaminationand Monitoring Study
The following nuclear techniques are used forenvironmental study:
TRIGA Reactor-based Neutron Activation analysis(NAA)ED-XRF techniqueNeutron RadiographyNatural radioactivity monitoring using gamma-ray
spectrometry system

BAEC TRIGA Research ReactorOthers non-nuclear techniques used-ICP-MS-AAS
Gamma-ray spectrometry system

Subjects of Monitoring
The heavy metal contamination and natural radioactivity monitoringof the following subjects are performed-Soil and sediments (river and coastal)- Water-Food (Essential and toxic metal contents and health risk
assessments)-Air particulate

Challenges in Implementation-Research reactor is old (35 years). So frequently in maintenance whichhampered NAA.
- At this moment isotopic analysis technique with enough sensitivity isnot available.

Food Safety and Health Risk Assessment

 Food safety has been a general concern all over the world.
 Health risks associated with toxic elements in food stuffs
 Evaluated by:-Dietary intake-Target hazard quotient-Target carcinogenic risk indices These types of studies along with food provenance study will
significantly contribute to the field of food safety and sustainableagriculture in Bangladesh.

Aquatic/Coastal Pollution
 Anthropogenic pollutants in the environment-Heavy metals (HMs)-Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
 Monitoring and radiological hazard assessments of natural andanthropogenic radioactivity concentration.

• Mohammad Amirul Islam et al., 2020. Heavy metal contamination and ecological risk assessment in water andsediments of the Halda river, Bangladesh: a natural fish breeding ground. Marine Pollution Bulletin (Elsevier), 160,111649.
• R. Khan et al., 2020. Distribution, sources and ecological risk of trace elements and polycyclic aromatichydrocarbons in sediments from a polluted urban river in central Bangladesh. Environmental Nanotechnology,Monitoring & Management (Elsevier), 14, p.100318.
• M. A. Islam, 2017. Contamination and ecological risk assessment of trace elements in sediments of the rivers ofSundarban mangrove forest, Bangladesh, Marine Pollution Bulletin (Elsevier), 124, 356-366.

Summary Although Bangladesh is responsible for less than 1% of global
GHG emissions, it is one of the highly climate vulnerable
countries of the world. Bangladesh is nevertheless taking
steps to reduce its future emissions through the developmentof different initiatives.

 Bangladesh is utilizing nuclear technology for environmental
contamination monitoring, food safety and agricultural
sustainability.
 Collaboration with international forum like IAEA, FNCA andother organizations will strengthen these activities in future.

Thank you