The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR), since its inception in 2009, has been placing great importance to empower Emiratis in the nuclear regulatory sector in order to deliver the UAE’s vision in developing its peaceful nuclear energy program and ensure its sustainability. This empowerment was given the same importance among Emirati women supporting the government’s vision in gender balance especially in this unique and important industry.

Today, women constitute 44% of FANR’s total workforce and 43% holding leadership positions. Over the past 13 years, FANR has achieved significant strides in empowering women and engaging them in its regulatory activities by implementing capacity-building programmes such as the Developee Engineering Programme targeted towards young and fresh graduates to build their capabilities in the nuclear regulatory sector, graduating 19 females among the 31 trainees.

Furthermore, FANR has also supported the development of Emirati females specialized in the nuclear regulation sector: such as the first three female Emiratis specialized in Nuclear Law, the first female holding a PhD Degree in nuclear engineering as well as the first Emirati female to become an official international nuclear non-proliferation inspector, who has completed a 9 months program at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Emirati females have been playing an indispensable role in regulating the nuclear and radiological sectors in the United Arab Emirates. Following UAE Government efforts, FANR has been supporting and empowering Emiratis, particularly women, to build their capabilities to ensure the safety and the security of all activities using nuclear or radioactive sources. We are proud to see Emirati Females contributing significantly in such a knowledge-intensive sector,” said Christer Viktorsson, Director-General of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR).

Building Emirati capability in the nuclear regulatory sector is a priority for FANR to ensure the sustainability of its regulatory mandate. FANR has in place start-of-the-art knowledge-driven and innovation-based programmes to help build and maintain Emirati skills to regulatory the sector.

Source: Emirates News Agency