Overview

Following a referendum decision in November 1987, all 4 of Italy's existing reactors were shut down, and orders for up to 16 new reactors cancelled. The NPP's are at Garigliano, Latina, Caorso and Trino Vercellese. 3 research reactors in Rome (Rospo, Ritmo and Rana) and 2 in Bologna (RB-1 and RB-2), were closed down in the early 1980's, together with other small ones which are now storage sites only (see below).

In 2008 the government announced that it was exploring the option of reintroducing nuclear power and in July 2009 a new Law was passed allowing this to take place. Under the new law, the government will have six months to choose sites for new nuclear energy plants, define the criteria for the storage of radioactive waste and work out compensatory measures for people who will be affected by the plants. A nuclear security agency will also be set up, although the actual building of the plants is expected to take years.

In January 2010 the government issued a Decree instructing various national agencies to begin a range of initiatives associated with the development of both the new reactors and waste management facilities. Details are to be made available by the summer of 2009, with siting criteria developed.

The Ministry for Productive Activities (formerly the Ministry of Industry) is responsible for the operating licences for all nuclear and radioactive installations. It is assisted by the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA; Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale).

Italy classifies radioactive waste as follows according to Technical Guide 26, produced by ENEA:

• Category I: Waste which decay in a few months to radioactivity level below safety concerns (mainly hospital and research waste with T1/2<1 year). (disposal performed according to general waste regulations)
• Category II: Waste which decay to radioactivity level of few hundreds of Bq/g within few centuries. Activity of several radionuclides shall not exceed given values. (near surface disposal)
• Category III: Long lived waste not included in category I and II; high level waste from reprocessing of spent fuel and alpha bearing waste from the fuel cycle and R&D activities. (deep geological disposal)

 L/ILW

NPP wastes generated prior to the moratorium are currently distributed amongst several sites in Italy. Most LLW is stored at Caorso, where there are some 4-5000 drums of L/ILW, and at Garigliano.

According to latest figures, the present inventory consists of some 8,000 m³ of VLLW, 17,000 m³ of short-lived LLW and 1000 m³ of long-lived LLW. In addition to this existing stockpile, some 50,000 m³ of LLW are expected from decommissioning activities and reprocessing wastes of up to 5,000 m³ of LLW, 900 m³ of ILW and 16 m³ of HLW will be returned from Sellafield.

 After a series of failed siting attempts during the 1990's, on November 13th 2003, the Italian Council of Ministers issued a decree authorising the immediate construction of a centralised storage facility for spent fuel and a disposal facility for L/ILW in the village of Scanzano Jonico, in the southern region of Basilicata. This provoked intense local opposition, the government then announced on November 20^th that it would suspend the decree until it was confirmed to be the most suitable site for the facility.

HLW/spent fuel
Most waste is stored at three of the decommissioned reactors, at Trino Vercellese (15tHM spent fuel), Caorso (190 tHM spent fuel) and Latina (spent fuel). All spent fuel from Garigliano has been sent to Sellafield for reprocessing.

There are currently no plans to develop a repository for these wastes. The siting process for a storage facility had originally been combined with that for the proposed L/ILW repository (above). When the proposed facility at Scanzano Jonico was abandoned, the government said that a separate site for HLW would be announced 'within a year'.