BELGRADE -- The largest nuclear waste disposal site in Europe will be located in Serbia - in Vinča, near Belgrade, it has been announced.
A public company in charge of its construction at the same time reassured that the facility was built "according to EU standards".
The site is now awaiting a permanent permission to operate.
Radojica Pešić of the Nuklearni Objekti Srbije (Nuclear Facilities of Serbia) public enterprise said in a statement carried by Belgrade-based media that the site will have the capacity to store all radioactive waste from the Serbian territory during the next couple of decades.
"The facility's capacity is 8,500 200-liter barrels and 100 transport containers," he said.
The construction of the structure began in 2007 and was carried out by the Vinča Nuclear Institute, but the job was taken over by the public company two years ago.
Pešić added that the new storage "will contribute to establishment of international standards set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency".
The old storage facility at Vinča will be dismantled beginning in 2012 and transported to the new location, Pešić concluded.