Transport of Packages with Radioactive Material and Spent High Activity Radioactive Sources in Albania (A Case Study)

Abstract

The transport of Radioactive Materials (RM) and Radioactive Wastes (RW) involves a potential radiological hazard. To ensure the safety of people, property and the environment, appropriate transport regulations for both domestic and international RM and RW are necessary. Transportation is an integral component of waste management and its safety is of as much public concern as the disposal system. When these materials are transported, they attract a great deal of public attention, and there is particular concern about shipments of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and RW. RW are produced throughout the world wherever radioactive materials are used and processed. Thus, generators of radioactive wastes include hospitals, industry, education institutions, power stations and fuel reprocessing facilities. Over 300 million packages of radioactive materials have been transported safely during the past year and it is estimated that during the next 15 years in the European Community between 50,000 and 100,000 m(3) of Low Level Waste will be conditioned, transported and disposed of each year. The total activity of radioactive substances transported in Albania (domestic and international) during 2007 has been some thousands Ci of unsealed and solid radioactive sources, mainly 99mTc; 131I, 60Co, 137Cs, 241Am etc., by import-export procedures, and approximately over 850 type A and Type B packages. A number of international bodies deal with the transport of RW and RM, issuing a large number of regulations, which have been recommended to member states as a basis for national regulations. Since 2001, the Albanian Government has approved the regulation of Safety Transport of RM and RW in Albania, upgraded in 2006, which has substituted: `The Regulation of Safety Transport of Radioactive Materials and Radiation Protection by Ionizing Radiation Sources' (1971) and `The Regulation of Safety Hazard Materials' (1997).