Speaker
Mr
P.R. Mogafe
(South Africa)
Description
In South Africa, the nuclear forensics approach and its functions as hosted and managed by Necsa, in support of any nuclear security investigations, start from the incident scene when the nuclear or radioactive material (that is out of regulatory control) is being handled and handed over to Necsa Emergency Control Centre by the South African law enforcement Agencies in the presence of NOMS Department official. The main objective for this approach is to increase the credibility status of the chain of custody on the handling of the material during incident (crime) scene management process (for both nuclear forensics and traditional forensic evidence collection) and its transportation from the scene to the suitable storage facility at Necsa. Aspects to be looked into during the response process include interactions between law enforcement agencies, Necsa relevant departments and the National Nuclear Regulator of South Africa. This paper focuses on the entire whole response process and associated prior arrangements in order to show and provide a set of requirements attached to the material and also the scope of critical relevant technical and law enforcement information to be acquired by all parties involved and participating in the nuclear/radiological incident or event response process before the material is authorized for storage at a suitably qualified Necsa’s nuclear forensics’ dedicated storage facility on Pelindaba site.
Primary author
Mr
P.R. Mogafe
(South Africa)
Co-authors
Mr
A. Matshiga
(The South African Nuclear Energy Corp Ltd (NECSA))
Ms
B. Kokwane
(The South African Nuclear Energy Corp Ltd (NECSA))
Mrs
P. Tshidada
(The South African Nuclear Energy Corp Ltd (NECSA))