SAFETY IMPROVEMENT OF THE RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE FACILITY IN ALBANIA.

Abstract

The Albanian National Radioactive Waste Storage Facility (NRWSF) constructed in 1999 consists of an interim waste storage facility for very low level waste, low level waste, intermediate level waste and disused sealed radioactive sources (DSRS) coming from research institutions, agriculture and industrial activities and from applications in nuclear medicine in Albania. The safety assessment of this facility is performed considering its impact to workers, public and environment. In 2018, Albania started a new National project Alb 9010 titled 'Upgrading the Radioactive Waste Storage Building According to International Standards'. The two fundamental objectives are to ensure the protection of the public, workers and the environment and to ensure retrievability of waste packages for final disposal. The project focuses on ensuring the safety of the treatment, conditioning and storage of radioactive waste and DSRS. Under this project has been done the improvement of the safety of the RWSF and upgrading of the existing building infrastructure. In the end of the project the objective is to improve the safety of the personnel in the RWSF, protection of public and environment, Upgrade the Equipment's used in the RW Management Activities, Upgrade the existing Infrastructure of the RWSF Building and also ensure retrievability of waste packages for final disposal.