History of the nuclear power plant
The Caorso nuclear power plant, the largest in Italy, with a capacity of 860 MW, was designed and built in the early seventies by the Enel – Ansaldo Meccanica Nucleare – GETSCO pool of companies.
The plant, of the BWR (Boiling Water Reactor) type, belongs to the second generation of nuclear plants.
Connection to the national grid took place in May 1978 and it went into service in December 1981.
In October 1986, the plant was stopped for periodic fuel charging and was never restarted, also as a result of the outcome of the 1987 referendum on nuclear power.
In 1990 it was decided to finally stop the commercial operation of the plant. Since then, safety of the facilities and systems to protect the population and the environment has been guaranteed.
The plant, during its albeit short period of operation, produced approx. 29 billion kWh.
In 1999, Sogin became the owner of the plant with the objective of decommissioning it.
The preliminary decommissioning activities were launched upon issue of the Ministerial Decree of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Handicraft (now Ministry for Economic Development) of 2000, which authorised the accelerate strategy for the nuclear power plant decommissioning.
In 2008, the power plant obtained the Environmental Compatibility Decree (EIA) for decommissioning. In 2014, the Ministry for Economic Development issued a decree for the decommissioning of the nuclear power plant which enables the completion of the decommissioning operations through the design and authorisation of single projects.