The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) has secured a $820,000 grant from the Export Development and Investment Fund (ED IF) to upgrade its irradiation facility to preserve food and sterilise medical products in commercial quantities. The commission has facilitated an additional soft loan of $14 million for the upgrading and expansion of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine centres for cancer management. The Director-General of the GAEC, Prof. Edward H. K. Akaho, said the upgrading of the irradiation facility would ensure that irradiation conducted by the commission would meet international standards and promote the export of the country's agricultural produce, while the expansion of the radiotherapy and nuclear medicine centres would ensure a comprehensive cancer programme in the country. He was speaking in Accra during a visit to the GAEC facilities by the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education and Science, Ms Elizabeth Ohene. The GAEC officials led the Minister of State on a tour of the Chemistry Department, Accelerator Buildings, the Reactor Centre, the Radiation Protection Institute, the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute and the Graduate School of Allied and Nuclear Sciences. Prof. Akaho said "protocols have been developed for preservation of food and sterilisation of medical products", and indicated that it was based on that work that the government through the EDIF had given the commission the grant to upgrade the existing facility for irradiation. "The commission is presently involved in various research activities to address the socio-economic problems of human health, agriculture and nutrition, industry and environment," he said. Prof. Akaho mentioned the development of a variety of cocoa that was resistant to swollen shoot disease as one of the modest achievements of the Commission, and noted that there were currently 25 cocoa farms with that cocoa variety. He said GAEC rendered services to the petrochemical industry and mining companies using non-destructive techniques with the view to optimising industrial processes. Prof. Akaho said with the recent discovery of oil, the commission had positioned itself to support oil, gas and petrochemical industries. To that end, he said, GAEC was expanding its institutional capacity by establishing an accelerator laboratory to support research and development and higher education of nuclear and related professionals. He said for the preservation, maintenance and enhancement of nuclear knowledge to manage operate and utilise existing and planned nuclear facilities in Ghana and Africa, the commission and the University of Ghana, Legon, had established the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences to train scientists in nuclear energy. Ms Ohene said the acceleration of the country's development depended on science and technology, and reiterated the government's resolve to make science the "main driving factor and the engine of growth". She said Ghanaians, especially the youth, did not have time to waste, and that science was needed to transform the country's economy in a shortest possible time. Ms Ohene commended GAEC for their work, which impacted on the nation's development efforts, and challenged the GAEC scientists to publicise their work to justify any government support, since there were competing demands. "We (the government) are now building infrastructure so• those who are loudest get help," she stressed. Source: Daily Graphic