A theme that can no longer be postponed, whose regulatory framework will be updated to the nuclear delegation law expected shortly in Parliament after the opinion of the Unified Conference. The Minister of the Environment, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, in a hearing at the Environment Commission of the Chamber to illustrate the path that could lead in 2039, in 14 years, to one or more radioactive waste deposits in locations yet to be defined. Opposition and activists are skeptical: "The government wants to reopen the nuclear power plants, but it can't even manage to make the radioactive waste safe", said the Democratic deputies led by Chiara Braga.
Pichetto explained that he is waiting for the Strategic Environmental Assessment to approve the National Map of Suitable Areas, updated with respect to the December 2023 proposal, which indicated 51 possible sites, in particular in Sardinia (eight), in Lazio (21), in Basilicata (10 plus two on the border with Puglia). Then there are "a plurality of steps and comparisons with the territorial realities". Without an agreement, the Council of Ministers will decide, integrated by the President of the Region concerned . "It is believed that the release of the single authorization provision can be foreseen for 2029 and the commissioning of the national repository for 2039", said the minister who wanted to clarify one point: "It almost seems that, in the absence of the national repository, this waste does not exist in the territory. And instead, it is present, widespread, and must be managed in total safety".
The minister explained where the radioactive waste is today: from the four former nuclear power plants to research centers up to over 100 mini-sites where very low intensity waste is stored, such as medical waste in hospitals. Overall, they constitute a total of over 32 thousand cubic meters at the end of 2023, the equivalent of more than ten Olympic swimming pools.
They are mainly in Lazio, where almost a third of the waste is present, in Lombardy and Piedmont. Piedmont is also the region with the highest total amount of radioactivity. 99% of the irradiated nuclear fuel from the national decommissioned plants has been sent to France and Great Britain to be reprocessed and is expected to return to Italy afterwards. Pichetto said he is renegotiating the agreements with France to regulate the possibility that the treated waste can be used as fuel in fourth-generation nuclear plants. Other informal discussions are said to be underway at a European level for the disposal of medium- and high-level radioactive waste and irradiated fuel in a geological repository "international as the preferred option or, alternatively, on national territory", said Pichetto, who envisaged the start of preliminary studies and tests from 2050.
(Online Union)
