Buea — The International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, has set aside some FCFA 500m to support atomic projects in Cameroon between 2007 and 2009.

This Cameroon-IAEA agent and newly appointed Secretary General of the National Committee for Technological Development, Doctor Augustin Simo, declared during an annual meeting with coordinators of projects in partnership with IAEA that took place in the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation on Tuesday, August 28, in Yaounde.

He said the money is to be invested in the realisation of projects that may require nuclear energy. Simo, however, mentioned that the government is to pay just 5 percent of the money each year as part of its own contribution to the smooth functioning of the Agency.

"Apart of producing weapons, nuclear energy can also be used in realising projects" Simo assured the population that atomic energy is not only used to produce weapons. According to him, no African country has the authorisation to produce nuclear weapons.

On behalf of Scientific Research and Innovations Minister, the Secretary General in the Ministry, Maurice Ndoumbe mentioned that the meeting was an opportunity to evaluate the execution of projects of technical cooperation between 2006 and 2007, and assemble various coordinators in line with an exchange of experiences.

The SG said the meeting was to enable participants elaborate the Programme Cadre National, PNC, which henceforth is the major weapon conceived by IAEA to reinforce the planning and programming of technical cooperation activities between the agency and the United Sates.

According to him, they would defend the interests of the nation from September the 17 to the 21 this year in the Austrian capital, Vienna. Ndoumbe stated that the Vienna gathering falls within the framework of exhibiting what the nation has been able to achieve with the help and support from the IAEA.

Ndoumbe highlighted that Cameroon has just fulfilled one of the most important requirements stipulated by the agency with the creation of the National Agency of Radio Protection (NARP) and the nomination of its first Director General. The agency, according to him, is to go operational by 2008 when the state budget is to be assessed.

Ndoumbe called on massive usage of nuclear technologies in enterprises whenever need be. He recalled a number of national enterprises that benefit from nuclear energy amongst which are HYDRAC, which used atomic energy in the construction of the Cameroon-Chad Pipeline that is today a regional reference in that domain.

He also saluted the performances of the Medical Nuclear services of the Yaounde General Hospital, which through its Technical Cooperation with IAEA, has benefited from a gamma camera for curing and diagnosing patients, which at first, necessitated costly evacuations.