On 9 February 2021, ISTC took part in a   videoconference with the Kenya Nuclear Regulatory   Authority, led by its Director, Joseph Maina, the Head   of the EU CBRN Regional Secretariat in Central and   East Africa. The session completed the round of   discussions with each country participating in Project   60 on the topic of their national legal and regulatory   frameworks of nuclear activities and security.

The ENCO Expert team presented specially elaborated analytical tools for evaluation, namely Tables of compliance for law and for regulations. Their application allows to examine Kenya’s legislation against international nuclear security recommendations and best practices. The basic document assessed with the tools was the Nuclear Regulatory Act No.29 of 2019. It was implemented throughout the last year.

The Project Expert team noted that the Act represents a very good piece of legislation. The expert recommendations focused on definitions, graded approach in regulating nuclear activities and Defence-in-depth approach, verification of compliance, enforcement, RN emergency response plan and contingency plan. An additional advantage of the Act is that it allows for extensive regulatory activities, including adoption of complementary secondary legislation.

On behalf of the Kenyan experts, the National Focal Point Ali Gekwali expressed appreciation for the ENCO recommendations, which will be particularly useful in view of the drafting of new regulations.

The next step in the implementation of Project 60 will be an online regional workshop on legal and regulatory frameworks. It will allow peer reviewing among the African partners and tapping on European and international experiences in nuclear security policies and practices