Press release

During 5-6 April 2018, a delegation from the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) and Office of Radiological Security (ORS) within USDOE payed a visit in Romania in order to  cellebrate almost 10 years of cooperation in the field of radiological security between National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within U.S.DOE and CNCAN.

The cooperation activities have been carried-out based on the provisions of the Agreement on cooperation to enhance the physical security of radioactive sources and special nuclear materials from Romania, signed on December 2009 in Bucharest.

Based on this Agreement, during 2010-2018, USDOE granted assistance to Romania developing projects, with an aproximative budget of 4 millions Euro, aimed to enhance the physical security of high activity radioactive sources and special nuclear materials that were used in industry, medicine and research.

The US delegation will have meetings with the following representatives of:

- the CNCAN management,

- the main nuclear objectives that implemented the above mentioned cooperation projects,

- the medical units that implemented projects on decommissioning of the medical radiological installations,

- the Nuclear Research Institute in Pitesti that implemented projects for transfer s of the high activity radioactive sources with the aim to be disposed.

The cooperation with the US partners has an important role in the activities developed by the regulatory authority and the institutions from the national nuclear field. The projects that were developed contributed to the development and enhancement of nuclear security in our country.

The Romanian Government gives a permanent support to CNCAN, as Governmental specialized authority, in order to ensure  the safe operation of all nuclear installations and ionizing radiation generators. In this respect, at the begining of this year, the Law No. 63/2018 for modification and completion of the Law No. 111/1996 on the safe development, regulation, authorization and control of the nuclear activities has been enacted. This law transposed the Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposureto ionising radiation. By this transposition, the national legislation related to the radiological safety against the dangers arising from exposure to ionizing radiation is harmonized with the European legislation.

Besides the cooperation with the US partener institutions (USDOE and ORS), an important role is played by the cooperation with the specialised international organizations such as: the International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Energy Agency within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Western European Nuclear Regulators Association, European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group and Heads of the European Radiological protection Competent Authorities. This cooperation certifies the recognition of CNCAN capabilities and competences being the guarantee for ensuring the protection of environment and population against ionizing radiation exposure, including for ensuring the nuclear and radiological safety at the national, international and regional level.