Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Hue, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the city currently has more than 880 facilities using nearly 2,500 radiation devices, and 65 facilities using radioactive sources.

With this number, the city will be at risk of security and safety if there is no incident response mechanism. Therefore, coordination in response to radiation incidents by relevant units in the city is extremely necessary. Since 2016, Ho Chi Minh City has had a Plan to respond to radiation and nuclear incidents in Ho Chi Minh City according to Decision No. 2840/QD-BKHCN of the Ministry of Science and Technology, which includes regulations on coordination mechanisms and response procedures when radiation incidents occur.

And to make the coordination mechanism for responding to radiation incidents more effective, the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City and the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital organized a workshop on operating the coordination mechanism in responding to radiation incidents in the city, thereby listening to the opinions of experts and units applying radiation equipment.

Ms. Huynh Luu Thanh Giang, Head of the Department of Technology Management and Technology Market (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology) said that the implementation of regulations on ensuring radiation safety in medical X-ray shows that 100% of facilities when first licensed have equipment inspected, however, only about 90% of facilities conduct periodic inspections according to regulations; 95% meet the standards on equipment room area, 5% have an area smaller than the regulations; 100% of facilities ensure equipment operation procedures, safety regulations; 98% meet the requirements on lights, warning signs... Regarding the preparation and readiness to respond to radiation incidents, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology regularly sends staff to fully participate in training courses organized by the Department of Nuclear Radiation Safety; equips 2 radiation source detectors and protective equipment. The Department of Science and Technology also conducts assessments, measurements and maps of radiation background (background radiation) in District 5 and Binh Thanh District.

The results of radiation background measurements in the survey area were all within the allowable limits. In order to respond to possible radiation incidents, delegates at the workshop said that the incident response process can be divided into 6 basic stages: receiving and processing information; notification; mobilization and deployment; intervention (incident handling); completion of response and recovery activities; assessment, analysis of consequences and incident reporting. With the hypothetical situation of responding to a radiation safety incident at the hospital, Mr. Nguyen Duy Hieu, Department of Radiation Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, presented 2 hypothetical situations of radiation safety at Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital. Thereby, many opinions said that choosing to build scenarios and situations is very important to deploy incident response drills as close to reality as possible.

Experience shows that the most likely incident situations are during the transportation of radioactive sources. Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Hue added that the Department of Science and Technology and the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital proposed two hypothetical situations and drafted a scenario for a coordination mechanism exercise in responding to radiation incidents as a premise for organizing radiation incident response drills in the city in the coming time... to help effectively implement the plan to respond to radiation and nuclear incidents in Ho Chi Minh City.

KIM THANH