Albania, Italy to launch joint project on radioactivity monitoring

The Albanian National Environment Agency and the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics will cooperate for the first time on a joint project to measure the level of pollution in Albania, the Albanian Ministry of Environment said on Thursday.

The ministry said the project will produce reports of pollution in Albania.

"The academic staff of both institutions will collaborate to release results of radioactivity in the whole country. For years we have received fragmented statistics of pollution in a few cities of Albania, but this project will provide us with complete pollution statistics," Director of the Albanian National Agency of Environment Julian Beqiri said.

President of the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics Fernando Ferroni highlighted the importance of this project, saying even Albania can have complete statistics, which will enable Tirana to intervene in cases of high levels of radioactive contamination in certain areas.

Albanian Deputy Minister of Education Arber Mazniku said that the project will create more opportunities for scientific researches.

"Through the cooperation with universities and Albanian institutions we will improve capacities of researches," Mazniku said.

According to the Albanian Daily News, the project, which followed the signing of a memorandum between the two institutions, is expected to issue reports of pollution levels within five years. Endi