International organization publishes article by Cuban environmental center

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 16 (ACN) The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reviewed in its specialized publication an article on the analytical capabilities and results of the Center for Environmental Studies of the City of Cienfuegos (CEAC), one of the institutions of the Nuclear Energy and Advanced Technologies Agency (AENTA).

The Nuclear Communicators Network (RECNUC) remarked that the text written by Yoelvis Bolaños Álvarez and Yasser Morera Gómez, Associate and Assistant Researchers, respectively, appeared in the most recent edition of the Nuclear Science and Instrumentation Newsletter, is about the competencies and scope of CEAC’s Environmental Testing Laboratory (LEA), whose management has improved as a result of technical cooperation with IAEA in terms of equipment and training.

Both authors refer specifically to the analytical capabilities of this Laboratory with the Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (EDXRF) technique, which enables the elemental characterization of biological and particulate material (also called particle contamination), soils and sediments, endorsed by the National Accreditation Body of the Republic of Cuba (ONARC) and ratified through regular proficiency tests coordinated by IAEA and other laboratories.

They highlighted the use of EDXRF to monitor contamination and collect data to support, for example, sediment geochronology studies in Cuban aquatic ecosystems,

EDXRF has also been used in studies of air pollution and its impact on soil erosion and Cuban agriculture in general.