International Initiatives Addressing the Safety and Security of Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources (DSRS)

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. Heard
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
High Activity ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Physical Protection ◽  
Secure Storage ◽  
Orphan Sources ◽  
Radioactive Sources ◽  
Storage Facilities

High activity radioactive sources provide great benefit to humanity through their utilization in agriculture, industry, medicine, research and education, and the vast majority are used in well-controlled environments. None-the-less, control has been lost over a small fraction of those sources resulting in accidents of which some had serious — even fatal — consequences. Indeed, accidents and incidents involving radioactive sources indicate that the existing regime for the control of sources needs improvement. Additionally, today’s global security environment requires more determined efforts to properly control radioactive sources. Consequently, the current regimes must be strengthened in order to ensure control over sources that are outside of regulatory control (orphan sources), as well as for sources that are vulnerable to loss, misuse, theft, or malicious use. Besides improving the existing situation, appropriate norms and standards at the national and international levels must continue to be developed to ensure the long-term sustainability of control over radioactive sources. In order to improve the existing situation, concerted national and international efforts are needed and, to some degree, are being implemented to strengthen the safety and security of sources in use, as well as to improve the control of disused sources located at numerous facilities throughout the world. More efforts must also be made to identify, recover, and bring into control orphan sources. The IAEA works closely with Member States to improve the safety and security of radioactive sources worldwide. Besides the IAEA Technical Assistance Programme and Technical Cooperation Fund, donor States provide significant financial contributions to the Nuclear Security Fund and/or direct technical support to other States to recover condition and transfer disused sources into safe and secure storage facilities and to upgrade the physical protection of sources that are in use. Under the USA-Russian Federation-IAEA (“Tripartite”) Initiative, for example, disused sources of a total activity of 2120 TBq (57251 Ci) were recovered and transported into safe and secure storage facilities in six countries of the former Soviet Union. Additionally, physical protection upgrades were performed in thirteen former Soviet Union republics at facilities using or storing high activity radioactive sources. Other donors have also provided funding for projects related to the safety and security of radioactive sources in the same region. Additionally, the EU and other countries are making regular and significant contributions to the IAEA for projects aimed at upgrading the safety and security of radioactive sources in South-Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Depending on the status of the radioactive source (in use, disused, or orphan) and the actual technical, safety and security situation, several options exist to ensure the source is properly brought or maintained under control. This paper will describe those options and the systematic approach followed by the IAEA in deciding on the most appropriate actions to take for the high activity sources that need to be recovered or removed from the countries under that request assistance.

scholarly journals Shifting from an inpatient to outpatient centered model through transforming the TB financing in ex-Soviet countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (05.1) ◽  
pp. 002S-009S
Author(s):  
Karapet Davtyan ◽  
Olga Denisiuk ◽  
Azamdzhon Mirzoev ◽  
Hayk Davtyan ◽  
Seda Aghabekyan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Operational Research ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
World Health ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Hospital Funding ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Ambulatory Treatment

Introduction: In former Soviet Union countries, tuberculosis (TB) financing largely relies on a hospital-centered model. The World Health Organization favors transformation to ambulatory treatment since it is cheaper and patient-centered. We explored policy and decision maker’s perspectives on: a) enabling factors for transformation in Armenia and b) challenges and ways forward in doing so in Ukraine and Tajikistan. Methodology: Qualitative study of key informants from government, donors and the national TB program. Results: 52 informants with a mean service record of 20 years were involved. Key enablers in Armenia included collaborative partnership and political will, carefully selecting an adapted financing scheme that avoided financial penalization of hospitals and health workers, and use of operational research. The operational challenges in Ukraine and Tajikistan hovered around the lack of technical capacity and guidance on “how to implement” alternative financing. Shortcomings in strategic planning, uncertainty/fear that existing hospital funding would be cut and reluctance to change were highlighted. Suggested ways forwards to change the current paradigm included country-level technical assistance, capacity building, regional exchanges and operational research. Conclusions: the perspectives of “those who decide” on transforming TB financing have been highlighted. Taking these perspectives on-board is vital for achieving the end-TB goals.

European Union’s contribution to civilian security sector reform in Ukraine after 2014

2019 ◽  
Vol 25242644 ◽  
pp. 8-18
Author(s):  
Žaneta Ozoliņa ◽  
Iveta Reinholde
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Security Sector Reform ◽  
Security Sector ◽  
Historical Aspect ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
The Eu

The article looks at ways on how Common Security and Defence Policy of the European Union are contributing to peace and stability in Ukraine. Since 2014, after the Euromaidan and its demands for Europeanization of the country, the EU and other international donors are assisting Ukraine in its modernization efforts. The spread of violent military conflict in Eastern Ukraine required multilateral engagement of strategic partners in transformation of security and defence sectors, as well as active participation in conflict management in the Eastern part of the country. EU was taking part in various initiatives offered by member states, the Community itself, and Ukraine. The article questions whether those instruments, which constitute the essence of CSDP, have been utilized, and how beneficial those efforts were for Ukraine. The article also explores what improvements in the implementation of CSDP could enhance transformation of security sector in Ukraine and what are the main communication channels used to explain the reforms. Cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union was considered in a historical aspect. The authors emphasize that the first mechanisms for cooperation with the former Soviet Union republics were proposed by the European Union in 1994. These are the TACIS (Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States) and the TEMPUS (Trans-European Mobility Programme for University Studies) programmes that Ukraine has used in part. Ukraine’s cooperation with the EU within the framework of the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Ukraine, the aim of which was facilitating the transformation of the civil security sector, was also considered. The article gives an overview of the tools that the European Union has at its disposal to work with other countries in the civil security sector. The results of the work of the EU in Ukraine after 2014, when the European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Ukraine was launched, are analyzed. A list of issues to consider in the future is given.

Marital Stability Among Jewish and Mixed Couples Following Immigration to Israel From the Former Soviet Union

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoav Lavee ◽  
Ludmila Krivosh
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Social Adjustment ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Marital Stability ◽  
Marital Instability ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Mixed Marriages ◽  
Marital Outcomes ◽  
Jewish Immigrants

This research aims to identify factors associated with marital instability among Jewish and mixed (Jewish and non-Jewish) couples following immigration from the former Soviet Union. Based on the Strangeness Theory and the Model of Acculturation, we predicted that non-Jewish immigrants would be less well adjusted personally and socially to Israeli society than Jewish immigrants and that endogamous Jewish couples would have better interpersonal congruence than mixed couples in terms of personal and social adjustment. The sample included 92 Jewish couples and 92 ethnically-mixed couples, of which 82 couples (40 Jewish, 42 mixed) divorced or separated after immigration and 102 couples (52 Jewish, 50 ethnically mixed) remained married. Significant differences were found between Jewish and non-Jewish immigrants in personal adjustment, and between endogamous and ethnically-mixed couples in the congruence between spouses in their personal and social adjustment. Marital instability was best explained by interpersonal disparity in cultural identity and in adjustment to life in Israel. The findings expand the knowledge on marital outcomes of immigration, in general, and immigration of mixed marriages, in particular.

The Contribution of Pavlov's Typology of CNS Properties to Personality Research

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Strelau
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
The West ◽  
Personality Dimensions ◽  
Personality Research ◽  
Personality Theories ◽  
Strength Of Excitation ◽  
Point Of Departure

This paper presents Pavlov's contribution to the development of biological-oriented personality theories. Taking a short description of Pavlov's typology of central nervous system (CNS) properties as a point of departure, it shows how, and to what extent, this typology influenced further research in the former Soviet Union as well as in the West. Of special significance for the development of biologically oriented personality dimensions was the conditioned reflex paradigm introduced by Pavlov for studying individual differences in dogs. This paradigm was used by Russian psychologists in research on types of nervous systems conducted in different animal species as well as for assessing temperament in children and adults. Also, personality psychologists in the West, such as Eysenck, Spence, and Gray, incorporated the CR paradigm into their theories. Among the basic properties of excitation and inhibition on which Pavlov's typology was based, strength of excitation and the basic indicator of this property, protective inhibition, gained the highest popularity in arousaloriented personality theories. Many studies have been conducted in which the Pavlovian constructs of CNS properties have been related to different personality dimensions. In current research the behavioral expressions of the Pavlovian constructs of strength of excitation, strength of inhibition, and mobility of nervous processes as measured by the Pavlovian Temperament Survey (PTS) have been related to over a dozen of personality dimensions, mostly referring to temperament.

Transmigration und Kapitalismus

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (140) ◽  
pp. 407-422
Author(s):  
Julia Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Different Sources

Based on an ethnographical study the article presents the problems of Soviet migrants with capitalistic every day life. The reaction of the migrants and the role of their imagination of capitalism, which was formed by different sources in the former Soviet Union, is investigated.

Gemstone deposits of the former Soviet Union

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernst M. Spiridonov
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Former Soviet Union
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