From 14 to 18 September 2026, Sofia hosted an advanced workshop titled “Search and Secure of Orphan Radioactive Sources”. The event was organized by the US Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with the support of the National Nuclear Security Administration under the US Department of Energy (DOE/NNSA). This workshop builds upon the initial training session, “Search and Secure of Orphan Radioactive Sources for Beginners”, which took place in June 2025.The participants in the workshop included representatives of Bulgarian and Slovak institutions involved in the search and secure operations of orphan sources. The Bulgarian delegation comprised experts from the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (BNRA), the Ministry of Interior – Chief Directorate Fire Safety and Civil Protection, the State Enterprise Radioactive Waste (SERAW), the National Investigation Service, the National Centre for Radiobiology and Radiation Protection (NCRRP), and the Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
On 16 and 17 September, the Specialised Division Permanent Repository for Radioactive Waste – Novi Han hosted the practical training sessions for radioactive source search operations.
The first workshop of this kind in Bulgaria was held in 2006 – once again at the Repository near Novi Han, with SERAW acting as a co-organiser of the event.
