The
National Repository is a surface environmental infrastructure providing safe storage to radioactive waste deriving from the operation and
decommissioning of nuclear power plants, from the medical, industrial and research sectors, the waste that will be produced in Italy until the time the Repository becomes operational, as well as all the waste that will be produced in the 40 years thereafter.
A
Technology Park will be created together with the National Repository: a research centre, open to international collaborations, where activities in the field of decommissioning, radioactive waste management and sustainable development will be carried out in agreement with the relevant territory.
Having obtained the technical opinion of the inspection body, the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN), on 13 December 2023, MASE published the list of areas included in the proposed National Map of Suitable Areas (CNAI) on its website.
Following the publication of the CNAI and as provided for by Italian Legislative Decree no. 31/2010 and by the amendments introduced by Italian
Decree-Law no. 181/2023 (so-called “Energy Decree), within 30 days thereafter, the local entities already listed in the CNAI, those elsewhere in Italy which may have been interested in hosting the NRTP, and also the Ministry of Defence for the military facilities involved, could submit their non-binding applications to MASE and Sogin no later than 12 March 2024. On the expiry of the deadline, no self-nominations were registered.
The siting process for a site that is appropriate to hosting the National Repository and Technology Park therefore continues, as provided for by the Decree, with the Strategic Environmental Assessment procedure on the CNAI proposal, initiated by the MASE with Sogin’s technical support.
At the end of the Strategic Environmental Assessment procedure and within 30 days, Sogin updates the CNAI proposal and the relative order of suitability, referring it to the MASE which adopts ISIN’s opinion, within 30 days.
With its own decree, the MASE, in agreement with the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, approves the CNAI with the relative order of suitability, to be published on the websites of the two Ministries as well as those of ISIN and Sogin.
The publication of the CNAI will then launch the negotiation phase intended to collect non-binding expressions of interest on behalf of the Regions and Local Entities where the suitable areas have been identified. In this phase, the entities will reach a joint decision on the site of the National Repository.
The
siting, design, construction and management of the infrastructure are entrusted to Sogin, as governed by Legislative Decree no. 31/2010 and the amendments introduced by
Decree-Law no. 181/2023 (so-called “Energy Decree”).
The Repository is a structure with a series of
engineering and
natural barriers designed on the basis of the best international experiences and according to the most recent
IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency); it is modular to
accommodate all the waste that will have been produced in Italy until the time it becomes operational, as well as all the waste that will be produced in the 40 years thereafter. The current estimate envisages final storage of about
84 thousand cubic metres of very low and low-level waste and the temporary storage of about
14 thousand cubic metres of intermediate and high-level waste.
The transfer of radioactive waste to a single facility will guarantee the safety of the public and the environment, and compliance with European Directives, aligning Italy with countries that have had similar repositories in place for some time, thus avoiding undue burdens on future generations.
Of the approximately 98,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste that will be delivered to the Repository,
60% will originate from the operation and dismantling of nuclear facilities, whereas the remaining
40% will originate from nuclear medicine, industrial and research activities.