第27回原子力委員会
参考資料第2-1号

Conclusions and Recommendations of the 21st FNCA Coordinators Meeting1.

Based on the Joint Communiques of the 21st FNCA Ministerial-Level Meeting (MLM) on the new directionof the FNCA, the Coordinators Meeting (“the meeting”) agreed to accelerate further the FNCA activities
related to agricultural development, food security, environmental protection, human health, nuclear security,and human resource development. The meeting also agreed to maximize efforts to normalize the FNCA
project activities promptly and seven regular meetings in response to the constraints brought by the COVID19 pandemic while ensuring the safety of the project researchers and participants as a prerequisite andsubject to national health policies.

2.

The meeting implemented end-of-project evaluation on four projects terminated at the end of March 2020,
namely, a) Radiation Oncology, b) Research Reactor Utilization, c) Radiation Safety and Radioactive Waste
Management, and d) Nuclear Security and Safeguards. The evaluation results and comments on theseprojects are as follows:a) Radiation Oncology
To establish optimal treatments for predominant cancers in Asia, the FNCA Radiation Oncology Project
has been conducting several clinical studies of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for more than 20 years.
From the results of clinical studies, some treatment protocols have become standard protocols in FNCA
member countries. Especially for cervical cancer, the results of CERVIX-IV indicate that concurrent
chemotherapy and prophylactic extended-field radiotherapy are feasible and effective for patients withlocally advanced cervical cancer in East and Southeast Asia.
b) Research Reactor Utilization
As test and research reactors are basic and fundamental tools of nuclear energy and nuclear sciencedevelopment, NAA, Isotope production, Neutron Scattering, Nuclear Science, BNCT and NR (NeutronRadiotherapy), Material Research, New Research Reactor, and Human Resource Development havebeen discussed for three years. It was agreed that every country requires new research reactors to usethem for useful RI production, NR, and BNCT. Discussion on possible future cooperation on these themes
should be continued
Regarding NAA on the SPM sub-project, analytical results will be summarized in each participating
country, and some of them will be reported in scientific journals as research papers. For NAA on the REE
sub-project, a round-robin test was performed by several participating countries and the results of thetest were reported at the workshop held by the IAEA. The results were also published in the IAEA
document.

1c)Radiation Safety and Radioactive Waste Management
Because almost all countries in the FNCA are planning to construct low-level radioactive waste disposal
facilities/long-term storage facilities, the safety features and the actual design of the disposal facility, as
well as public acceptance, have been discussed in the project.
The Interim Report on Low Level Radioactive Waste Repository, which focuses on general policy andspecific site safety assessment of LLW repository in each FNCA member country, was compiled in March,
2020. The report contributes to enhancing the knowledge related to radiation safety and radioactive
waste management in each country.
This project is expected to also focus on NORM/TENORM radioactive wastes and characterization
processing and disposal of disused sources in the following term.

d) Nuclear Security and Safeguards
The 3-year-long activities of this project have produced excellent outcomes including raising awarenessregarding the importance of nuclear security and safeguards, facilitating sharing of information on nuclear
security and safeguards, promoting capacity-building for nuclear security and safeguards, and enhancing
nuclear security and safeguards regimes through workshops and open seminars.
Concerning nuclear forensics (NF), Table Top Exercises (TTX) on evidence sample collection, initialinvestigation at NF laboratory, and identification of unknown nuclear materials by FNCA project leadersand National Police have been conducted.
The project activities were reported at the IAEA International Conference on Physical Protection ofNuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities (2017), the 60th Annual Meeting of the INMM (Institute of Nuclear
Material Management) (2019), and the IAEA International Conference on Nuclear Security (2020).
3.

With improved procedures for evaluating project proposals endorsed at the 17th MLM, all FNCA coordinators
performed ex-ante evaluation for six project proposals from project leaders considering the relevance,effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability. Consequently, the meeting agreed to launch new phasesof four three-year projects from JFY 2021, namely, “Radiation Oncology”, “Research Reactor Utilization”,“Radiation Safety and Radioactive Waste Management”, “Nuclear Security and Safeguards” with thecomments shown in item 5.

4.

Regarding new project proposals, some member countries assigned low scores on the evaluation criteria forthe project proposal “177Lutetium-Labeled PSMA radionuclide therapy for metastatic prostate cancer” and“FNCA collaborative study on technology, safety, and security of Small Module Reactors (SMRs) and Floating
Nuclear Power Plants (FNPPs)”. Therefore, these proposals were rejected according to the guidelines forevaluating new project proposals. Nevertheless, the meeting suggested the following points:a) In addition to the three types of cancers, a possible future cooperation scheme for other types of cancer
such as prostate cancer should be discussed in the “Radiation Oncology” project.
2b) Exchange of information and discussions on SMRs and FNPPs could be conducted during the “NewResearch Reactor” session of the “Research Reactor Utilization” project.
5.

a) Radiation Oncology- This project allows member countries to gain new knowledge. Moreover, it is firmly believed that the results
could positively impact cancer treatment results and patient surveillance in the future.
- As the hands-on training on 3D-IGBT helps the radiation oncologists and the medical physicists of themember countries to learn about this new technique, the hands-on training should be conducted in variouscountries.
- Cooperation with the IAEA/RCA should be promoted in the study of palliative radiotherapy, as it wasencouraged in the 43rd meeting of the national RCA representatives held in April, 2021.
- In addition to the three types of cancers, possible future cooperation schemes for other cancer treatments,
such as prostate cancer, should be discussed within the project framework.
b) Research Reactor Utilization- This project is an excellent platform for information sharing, network construction, and further technicalimprovement among FNCA member countries. However, workshops are held once a year, and it isrecommended that online seminars or meetings be held in addition to workshops for information exchange.
- Neutron activation analysis should be entirely discussed in a workshop because analysis, such as PM2.5
elemental composition, plays essential roles in the extensive applications of environmental sciences.
- The RRU project will bring great benefits to the country, which is considering a new research reactor;
cooperation on human resource development should also be discussed in this project.
- It is recommended that the exchange of information and discussion on SMRs and FNPPs should beconducted during the “New Research Reactor” session in this project.
- It is also recommended that other particular concerns of the member countries including the issue on theupgrading of Reactor Protection System (RPS) of the existing aging-research reactor be discussed.
- At least two researchers from each member state should participate in the project meeting. One member
should be from the organization responsible for the operation and the management of the research
reactors, while the other should be a researcher responsible for the selected topic, such as NAA, or RI
production.
c)Radiation Safety and Radioactive Waste Management- The project addresses building national capacity to protect the public and environment against ionizing
radiation, including ensuring the safety of food and environment and assisting the member countries withsafety improvement related to radiation safety and radioactive waste management.
- NORM/TENORM radioactive wastes, which are expected to become significant social issues in many
Asian countries, should be discussed intensively in this project.
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- It is recommended that Clearance of Very Low Level Radioactive Waste be considered in the project.
- Scientific visits, advisory missions, or even hands-on practice should be performed in the future for theproblems faced by several countries, such as handling of decommissioning of nuclear facilities, and NORM
/ TENORM waste.
d) Nuclear Security and Safeguards- The project addresses identified objectives effectively; however, it requires additional good practices frommember country experience. Considering bringing more good practice as lessons learned among FNCA
member countries is recommended.
- A nuclear forensics mechanism in the Asian region, whose promotion was called for at the Washington
Security Summit in 2016, should be discussed and put into action in three years. In particular, hands-on
exercises or TTX on nuclear forensics are important to enhance the necessary measures for nuclearsecurity and their sustainability in each member country.
- It would also be better to promote a close cooperation with the IAEA and other relevant organizations in
the area of nuclear security measures.
6.

The meeting discussed the progress of three ongoing projects in the fields of radiation utilization
development and climate change science. These projects are “Mutation Breeding”, “Radiation Processing
and Polymer Modification for Agricultural, Environmental and Medical Applications”, and “Research on
Climate Change using Nuclear and Isotopic Techniques”. The meeting acknowledged that the projects weresuccessfully implemented with the effective cooperation of member countries. The end-of-project evaluationof “Radiation Processing and Polymer Modification for Agricultural, Environmental and Medical Application”
project and “Research on Climate Change using Nuclear and Isotopic Techniques” project and theintermediate review of “Mutation Breeding” project will be conducted in the next Coordinators Meeting to beheld next year; however, the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the project activities should be fully
considered in the evaluation of the project. The comments for each project are as follows:a) Mutation Breeding
Several new mutant varieties/lines of rice, wheat, or soybean developed in member countries have been
disseminated widely and expected to affect the economy of several countries positively. Continuing
efforts are expected towards sustainable agriculture and resilience against rapid climate change.
b) Radiation Processing and Polymer Modification
This project aims to provide a broader application of radiation processing technology and has produced
some excellent results on “Degraded Chitosan for Animal Feeds” and “Hydrogel for Medical Application”
studies. It is suggested to accelerate the implementation of the project outcomes with end-users,
including the private sector, and consider the possibility of commercialization,4c)Research on climate changeThis project focuses on providing insights into the mechanism and process of climate change in the pastusing nuclear technology-based methods and analyses. Moreover, the project aims to gain and share
the knowledge for interpreting phenomena causing climate change. The meeting positively evaluatesthat “practical guide on soil sampling, treatment and carbon isotope analysis for carbon cycle studies”
was compiled in 2020. Moreover, the meeting firmly expects the Asian-scale database of soil organiccarbon degradability to be constructed in the near future by using this analysis method.

7.

The meeting agreed that project workshops would be hosted by respective member governments in
JFY2021, as shown in the attached Annex. All workshops should be held between September 2021 andMarch 2022. Project leaders will participate in each workshop in person or using a video conference system.
If participating in person, it is recommended that all participants should be vaccinated against COVID-19
before the workshop.
As the COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting FNCA project activities in 2021, the meeting suggests that eachproject should use a video conference system for specific topics when necessary, in addition to regularproject meetings.

8.

It was agreed that the FNCA projects should make efforts to reinforce cooperation with relevant international
institutions, including the IAEA and the OECD/NEA.

Attachment: Annex mentioned in the Article 75