Madagascar is not a nuclear country as we do not have so far a Nuclear Power Plant, nevertheless, several radioactive sources, emitting ionizing radiation devices as well as a great quantity of Normally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) are present, hence the use of several ionizing radiation detectors in the country.

The SSDL Madagascar was created in 1993 in the Dosimetry and Radiation Protection department of the “Institut National des Sciences et Techniques Nucléaires (INSTN-Madagascar) which is an institute devoted to the promotion of Nuclear Technologies. Since then, our laboratory calibrates annually around twenty detectors used in different activity areas such as medical, industrial, mining, research etc.

Apart from the detectors used at national level, being a unique SSDL in the Indian Ocean, the SSDL-Madagascar calibrates several equipments used in some countries in our region. The sustainability of our SSDL is based on three factors including training, intercomparison exercises and periodic updating of the said lab.

• Periodic training is provided to SSDL Madagascar staff in nuclear metrology techniques, particularly in dosimetry calibration. These training programmes are organized mainly by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), followed by exchanges of information at national level.
• Although SSDL Madagascar has not yet had the chance to be ISO 17025 certified, we actively participate in some international intercomparison programmes, particularly within the IAEA network.
• A National safety project referenced MAG 9007 with the IAEA, was initiated in 2022 aiming to upgrade the SSDL-Madagascar to face the failures of some key elements as well as the decay of some radioactive sources.

The sustainability of our SSDL is the guarantee of an effective detection at the national level by ensuring that each used equipment provides correct and reliable exposure values to ionizing radiation. In the field of medicine such as radiotherapy for instance, the support of SSDL Madagascar is essential because it contributes to ensuring that the doses delivered to patients are correct and so the planed treatment are more effective. Thus, we can say that the sustainability of SSDL Madagascar closely contributes to the protection of all workers exposed to ionizing radiation, as well as patients and offers therefore a better quality of life for the population.