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Decommissioning in Italy
(The Decommissioning and Dismantling of
Nuclear Facilities in OECD/NEA Member Countries - Italian National
fact sheet by ANPA)
1 -
Present Status of the Italian nuclear installations
2 -
Legal and Regulatory Framework
3 -
The initial strategy
4 -
Government strategy change and the role of SOGIN
5 -
Current programs and main issues
6 -
The management of radioactive wastes and spent
fuel
7 -
The National repository
8 -
Funding
2. Legal and Regulatory
Framework
2.1 Nuclear
Legislation
The Italian legislation regulating
nuclear safety and radiation protection is centered on the following
Laws and Regulations.
- Law no. 1860 issued in 1962, which
is the Basic Act on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, as amended
by the President's Decree no. 1704 issued in 1965, and by the
President's Decree no. 519 issued in 1975. The Law regulates all
activities connected with the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Excluded from the scope of the Law are the nuclear installations for
the generation of electricity, which are governed by the procedure
laid down in Legislative Decree no. 230/95.
- Legislative Decree no. 230 issued in
1995, which replaced the previous DPR n°185 issued in 1964. Its
provisions on nuclear safety and radiation protection apply to all
practices involving an ionising risk, including the construction,
operation, and decommissioning of nuclear plants. The Decree has
been amended by Legislative Decree no. 241 issued in 2000, which has
endorsed the European Union Directive 96/29/Euratom laying down
basic safety standards for the radiation protection of workers and
the public;
- In addition to the above, the Safety
Authority publishes Technical Guides, which outline the safety
criteria and license application formats acceptable to the Authority
in the framework of the licensing procedures.
2.2 Other relevant legislation
Other legislation which has a great
impact on nuclear activities are those connected with the potential
environmental impacts. The correlation between nuclear safety and
environmental legislations are not always clarified, generating
potential overlapping and conflicts.
The main reference legislation is:
- Law 8/7/1986, n. 349 which
implements the European Commission Directive 85/337/EEC on the
assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on
the environment, amended by the Council Directive 97/11/EC. The
Law has resulted in the following secondary legislation:
- DPCM 377/1988, DPCM 27/12/1988, DPR
12/4/1996, and DPR 3/9/1999 n. 349, defining the technical
procedures for the compilation of the environmental impact studies
for certain work’s cathegories.
- Council Directive 97/11/EC, amending
Directive 85/337/EEC, on the assessment of the effects of certain
public and private projects on the environment.The Directive in
Annex 1 lists, among the projects subjected to an EIA procedure,
nuclear power stations and other nuclear reactors, including the
dismantling or decommissioning of such power stations or reactors.
This Diective has not been completely endorsed in Italy and
Authorites do direct reference to the Directive in dealing with
plants in decommissioning.
2.3 Competent Authorities
Licenses related to nuclear
installations and radioactive materials ownership and handling are
granted by the Ministry for Productive Activities (hereafter called
MAP, basically the Ministry of Industry), on the basis of the
technical positions of the National Agency for Environmental
Protection and Technical Services (APAT, previous ANPA).
APAT carries out technical and scientific, regulatory and inspection
activities of national interest related to the protection of the
environment, and of the water and land resources. It has operational
and administrative autonomy under the directives and the control of
the Ministry of Environment. For all nuclear activities, APAT acts as
the technical body of MAP. Its responsibilities for the licensing
process of nuclear installations include:
- assessment of the safety cases presented by the license applicant;
- inspections of equipment and materials during the construction and
operational phases for the systematic verification of facility
operation safety;
- enforcement action as a consequence of any failure to meet both the
licensing conditions and any safety operation criteria. The Technical
Commission for Nuclear Safety and Health Protection from Ionising
Radiations (hereafter called Technical Commission), is an Advisory
Body of APAT, giving technical advices on safety and health protection
issues in relation to the main stages of the licensing procedure. It
is composed of experts from ENEA, APAT, and concerned Ministries. The
Ministry of the Environment is the authority responsible for the
decisions in the matter of environmental compatibility of nuclear
projects, including decommissioning of nuclear power stations. The EIA
Commission (Commissione VIA) is the Advisory Body of the Ministry of
the Environment, giving technical advices on the environmental
compatibility of the projects.
2.4 Licensing
procedures for decommissioning
Licensing procedures are described in
the Legislative Decree 230.
In particular, the decommissioning activities licensing, which was not
specifically regulated by previous laws, is now regulated by articles
55, 56 and 57 of the mentioned Decree. The applicant shall present a
Global Decommissioning Plan and the detailed document for the first
phase. The activities must be authorised by MAP after consultation
with the Ministries of the Environment, Internal Affairs, Labour, and
Health, together with the interested Regional Government and APAT.
This authorisation may be granted for single intermediate phases. In
this case the documentation for each phase shall include a status
report of the plant at the beginning and at the end of the phase and
licenses will be issued for each phase. For each decommissioning phase,
the activities to be performed have to be described, together with
their safety, environmental and radiation protection implications as
well as the initial and final state of the site and the solution
envisaged for waste management and waste disposal. The identification
and analysis of possible hazard and of accident scenarios for each
phase of decommissioning must be addressed in the application,
together with implication for the outside emergency plan and proposal
for its updating. All decommissioning activities must be performed
complying with conditions and technical specifications laid down in
the decommissioning licence. Systems, components and equipment
relevant to safety and radiation protection are subject to a general
regime of technical specifications and surveillance tests, either
specified in the decommissioning licence or, possibly, in the
operation licence for the section still in force. APAT supervises
decommissioning operations and carries out inspections to verify
compliance with specifications concerning safety and radiation
protection.
For the decommissioning of NPPs, the implementation of an EIA
procedure is also required. The applicant shall prepare an
Environmental Impact Study (EIS) to be approved by the Ministry of the
Environment, describing the project, its purpose and scope, and
justifying the preferred strategy. The Ministry of the Environment, on
the basis of the advice of the concerned Region and of the EIA
Commission, and in concert with the Ministry of the artistic and
environmental assets, gives its opinion on the environmental
compatibility of the proposed project. The EIA process includes a
Public Inquiry, whose comments are taken into account by the EIA
Commission in making its advice.
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