Member Societies

l scroll

Former Chief UN Weapons Inspector Speaks at BNS Symposium

Hans Blix, former Chief UN Weapons Inspector, honoured the Belgian Nuclear Society’s November 2003 symposium on civil nuclear energy with his presence and concluded it with his personal highlights. The symposium – announced in our previous issue of ENS News – explored civil nuclear energy’s potential contribution to water, energy, non-proliferation and disarmament.

Questions raised by nuclear phase-out were tackled during the Society’s previous annual symposium, which focused on the different European perspectives on the issue. When divergence and contradiction surrounded the debate on the economic impact of the Belgian phase-out law, BNS prepared a CD-Rom for all interested parties. This featured the most representative papers on the issue.

From space odysseys to weapons inspections, the BNS’s monthly evening lectures concentrate on current nuclear issues and have become a veritable nuclear institution in Belgium.

The spectrum of subjects covered by BNS lectures given over the past 13 months has included:

• Nuclear Imaging in the Medical Imaging Context

• 2002, A Space Odyssey – Nuclear Applications in Space

• Nuclear Safety in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe and in the New Independent States

• Raising the Kursk

• Nuclear in Finland

• Nuclear Energy in Switzerland: Yes please!

• Adventures Experienced During UN-IAEA Inspections in Iraq.

Having some 400 members, the BNS is an academic society for the advancement of science and engineering relating to the atomic nucleus. Next year, it celebrates its 25th anniversary. The Society is a founding member of the ENS and an affiliate member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS).

For more information on BNS, please visit: http://www.bns-org.be