Strengthening the Nuclear Security Culture by Training at University

The best way to build a robust security system is by imbibing culture in your routine. This can be achieved through practice and exercises. On these lines of strengthening the security culture among the young generation and future leaders, Amity Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, India organized a series of hands-on training workshops with their upgraded laboratory facility, for the workforce having some experience of working in this sector, undergraduate, postgraduate, and high school students. This laboratory has been upgraded with the equipment procured under the Nuclear Security Education Laboratory Upgrade project sponsored by Defense Threat Reduction Agency, with technical support from Texas A& M University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US. To spread the word about the safe and secure handling and identification of nuclear materials, hands-on training sessions were conducted post the basic-lecturing sessions. The response from the other section was very motivating. The workshops revolved around using Radioisotope identifiers, NaI (Tl) and metal detectors being used for location assessment of the sealed radioactive sources, and quantitative analysis of the sources present. Fundamental characteristics like attenuation of radiation with various shields and inverse square dependence of radiation were established. The first workshop was held in collaboration and technical support from Nuclear Security Science & Policy Initiative, TAMU in June 2022. The workshop for undergraduate, postgraduate, and high school students was conducted by AINST faculty. This paper shares the details about the workshops held and the results of the awareness created. Some quick survey questions were put forth to our participants after each workshop and their feedback was analyzed. The way forward for such initiatives would be to create further awareness about the handling of radioactive sources and their easy identification to ensure no undue doses are received by the public. Further, we are taking this facility online for remote access so that the fundamental characterization of detectors can be accessed by a larger group from their respective institutes globally