LUSAKA, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian cabinet has approved a policy that will guide the country's implementation of its nuclear program, a government spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Chief government spokesperson Dora Siliya said although the government has been applying nuclear science and technology for development since 1969, the country has had no nuclear policy to guide the utilization of nuclear science and technology.

The National Nuclear Policy and its implementation plan will strengthen the legal, institutional, and operational framework of nuclear science and technology in the country.

"The absence of the policy has limited the country's realization of benefits from nuclear technologies. This policy is, therefore, needed to provide a broad and robust legal, regulatory and human resource platform that will ensure the country derives maximum benefits from nuclear technologies," she said in a statement after a cabinet meeting.

Zambia has come up with a nuclear program that will see the southern African nation constructing a Center for Nuclear Science and Technology as well as the construction of a nuclear power plant.

The Center for Nuclear Science and Technology will have a research reactor for the production of medical isotopes used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers, a gamma irradiator for food preservation, and medical product sterilization. Enditem

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