Decommissioning of an old teletherapy cobalt machine

The first teletherapy cobalt machine in Albania (Tirana University Hospital Center 'Mother Teresa') began operation in 1966. This was a Jupiter-Junior F machine (Monza, Italy) with a 120 TBq (3000 Ci) cobalt source. The machine worked for 28 years and the source was replaced every 5 years. The decommissioning of the machine was decided as result of its mechanical parts deteriorating. An agreement has been the reached between Albanian Government and IAEA for this decommissioning. Local and foreign specialists have participated in the decommissioning process. The source with an activity about 60 TBq was sent abroad for interim storage and the mechanical parts of the machine were controlled carefully because of their eventual radioactive contamination. (author)