“Twenty is megl ‘Che One” It is the synthesis – making the verse to a famous advertisement of the 90s – of the thought of Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin on the subject of nuclear waste deposits.
The Minister of the Environment and Energy Safety, who intervened a few days ago at an event entitled “New energies” organized by Printing At the Ogr of Turin, he would have said that it is “illogical at the level of efficiency” to have a single site, since with a single deposit they would increase the movements of the slag.
Italian slags
The question relating to the deposits of Italian nuclear waste has raised numerous discussions since the closure of the plants in 1987, following the referendum that succeeded Chernobyl disaster, in which the Italians voted for the abandonment of nuclear power.
Only in 2003, during the Berlusconi government, was it indicated – with law 368/2003 – Scanzano Jonico, in Basilicata. The decision met strong oppositions from the citizens and the towns of the place, which led to the modification of the decree and, finally, to the suspension of the decision.
Seven years later the Legislative Decree 31/2010 arrived, which defines the procedure to locate the national deposit of radioactive waste, providing for the involvement of local communities also through public consultations.
In 2021, Sogin – the Nuclear System Management Company, in charge of the safety and dismantling of the slag – started the public consultation phase, which ended on 5 July 2021. Following this 67 areas in 7 Italian regions were identified potentially suitable for hosting the national deposit, then reduced to 51 in 2023. These indications also caused strong oppositions from local authorities and citizens.
The new “strategy”
The statements of the minister in recent days have aroused great concern: first of all because the question has been very delicate and has been discussed for over 30 years and this statement appears unsettling, and then because this change of strategy multiplies the fears of the inhabitants of all the areas indicated.
Finally, there is also further disbursement to be paid by Italian taxpayers for a change of course of the genre. On the national deposit site, it reads, in fact, that to create one, together with the technological park, the total investment is approximately 1.5 billion euros, will be financed by the general taxation of the state. It is therefore natural to think about how much it would be to build and manage multiple sites, since we talk about efficiency.
The concern of environmentalists
Following the statements of the minister, there are many environmental associations that have expressed serious concerns and ask the Ministry of Transparency regarding the real reasons that led to such a change of decision.
The methodology, which also like WWF we technically contested on the merits with robust observations, was however the result of a path and a comparison. Now we do not understand the ratio of the change of strategy, if not to try to digest not to one, but to 20 territories The slag. The WWF has always deemed indispensable to identify a national site since the current situation is to be considered the worst from an environmental point of view and for the health of people Because it is technically tried how most of the sites in which the waste currently insist are absolutely not suitable to keep them safely.
The WWF said in a press release.
Moreover, the multiplication of the sites also multiply the problems of safety management from any attacks since they will all be manned militarily. One wonders As the government thinks of creating its return plan to nuclear power With the realization of an unspecified number of SMR when it cannot even build the long -awaited national site for the management of slag.
concludes the association.
What appears illogical is how the ministry you think of making 20 deposits if in all these years it has not been possible to make one even. The impression is that this thorny question is taking time to postpone once again. If this were the case, it would make Italy’s return to nuclear power even more impossible and it would really be an own goal for the government that brought back the theme of the plants in our country. Or nuclear power is a “straw fire” and with this decision you want to slow it down, to continue to encourage fossil sources.
