Country shut down reactors after Chernobyl referendum
Dismantling has begun of the radioactive waste system at the shutdown Garigliano nuclear power station in southern Italy, state-owned nuclear waste management and decommissioning company Sogin said.
The system used during the plant’s operation to manage radioactive liquid effluents.
Sogin said the system includes supply and discharge pipes, three tanks and all support equipment.
Approximately 50 tonnes of metal material will need to be dismantled and removed. Sogin estimates that once the material is treated, only 15 tonnes of radioactive waste will remain.
This will be stored at Garigliano’s temporary storage facilities in preparation for its transfer to a national repository, which has yet to be built.
Sogin said the project will be completed within the year.
Last year Sogin completed the first phase of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) dismantling at Garigliano. The next step in that process will include removal of RPV internals before the vessel itself can be approached.
Garigliano was a 150-MW boiling water reactor plant which operated between 1964 and 1982.
Italy was a pioneer of nuclear power and had four commercial nuclear plants – Caorso, Enrico Fermi, Garigliano and Latina – providing almost 5% of the country’s electricity production share at their peak in 1986-1987.
Italy shut down the last of the plants, Caorso and Enrico Fermi, in July 1990 following a referendum in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The Italian government of prime minister Giorgia Meloni is seeking to restore nuclear power in the country to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
