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INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND NUCLEAR SCIENCES
Faculty of Engineering. Dr. Adrian Spence, head of the Atomic Spectroscopy and Wet Chemistry Laboratory and Mr. Johann Antoine, head of the Nuclear Analytical Laboratory, continued their service to the MSc programme in Forensic Science in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences. Dr. Spence supervised the thesis of Ms. Daltonette Crawford while Mr. Antoine supervised the research of Mr. Wray Williams and Ms. Tamara Lobban, while also serving as an examiner for Ms. Crawford in the oral presentation of her thesis. ICENS also participates in outreach activities that introduce students to UWI and the work of ICENS. One of the major activities was the pilot edition of the Jamaica Nuclear Engineering Bootcamp, organized by Dr. Charlyne Smith of the Breakthrough Institute, USA. The Nuclear Bootcamp, held from July 24–28, 2023, took students from St. Catherine High School through the basics of nuclear power and reactor engineering which included a visit to ICENS where Mr. Antoine gave a lecture and then along with Mr. Dennis gave tours and further information about the JM-1 SLOWPOKE-2 reactor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FYRskxHm5s. Early in the year (September 11 th –14 th ) Professor Charles Grant visited the North-Western University (NWU) in South Africa where he was invited to serve on a panel for external review of the Unit for Environmental and Sciences Manage- ment. Professor Grant also visited the Centre for Applied Radiation and Technology (CARST) at the invitation of the Vice Chancellor and Principal of the NWU, Prof. Bismark Tyobeka, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CARST and ICENS. The MoU will be signed on February 12, 2024, with a delegation from the NWU visiting the major UWI campuses. Among the areas of cooperation will include student and faculty exchange and collaborative research. Following discussions with the Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles the scope of the MoU was extended to be one of cooperation between the NWU and the UWI. The academic year of 2022/2023 saw the ICENS profile significantly enhanced with increased talk of Jamaica considering the addition of nuclear power to its energy mix as well as the project that would bring a multi-purpose gamma irradiator to Jamaica to help fight mosquito-borne diseases using the sterile insect technique (SIT) and to induce beneficial traits in crops. Highlights of the year in this regard included Professor Charles Grant’s feature in the Gleaner on Nuclear Energy (https://jamaica-gleaner. com/article/news/20221106/jamaica-moving-towards-nuclear-energy), Mr. Johann Antoine’s appearance on CVM-TV (https://www.cvmtv.com/panel-discussion/ jamaicas-nuclear-energy-ambitions), ICENS’ Open Day and Media Tour being featured on TVJ and JIS (https://jis.gov.jm/photos-icens-open-day-and-media-tour/) and Mr. Antoine being featured in the Observer related to the gamma irradiator (https://jis.gov.jm/photos-icens-open-day-and-media-tour/). Following Prime Min- ister Andrew Holness’ statement on April 28 th , 2023 about exploring nuclear power and Minister Daryl Vaz’s sectoral presentation, on May 10, 2023, which mentioned Professor Grant by name there was another flurry of activity. This included an
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