Nuclear: from material to costs, everything you need to know about the national radioactive waste repository

The reason why Italy must equip itself, and quickly too, with a repository for the disposal of radioactive waste was recently emphasised by the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, who recalled both the infringement procedure against Italy for the failure to start this process and the need, as also required by national legislation, to gather all the radioactive waste in Italy in the same place. And which are currently disposed of in several repositories, there are about a hundred in 22 different sites, as the minister himself pointed out. But what do we know about the national repository project that should be ready by 2039? How will it be built? Here, in ten questions and answers, is everything you need to know.

The national repository should be seen as a mosaic with several pieces because it will consist of several layers: the facilities for disposing of very low and low-level radioactive waste and those for storing medium- and high-level radioactive waste. The latter, in particular, will have to be transferred to a geological repository suitable for their final disposal. It should be remembered that, unlike in other countries, the Italian plan for the national repository also envisages the construction, on the same site as the former, of a technology park, a research centre open to international collaborations, in which activities in the fields of energy, waste management and sustainable development will be carried out. It will be a pole of attraction for scientific and technological innovation in industry and an attraction for skilled employment.

The total area will be about 150 hectares, 110 of which will be dedicated to the repository and 40 to the research centre. There will, as mentioned, be several pieces: within the 110 hectares of the repository, the disposal sector for very low and low-level radioactive waste (10 hectares) will be located, as well as the four storage buildings for medium and high-level radioactive waste, also on an area of equal size. The remaining 90 hectares are earmarked for the other storage areas. to the

Yes, as in a kind of interlocking game. According to the project, full details of which can be consulted on the website dedicated to the national repository (www.depositonazionale.it, maintained by Sogin, the public company in charge of decommissioning nuclear plants and securing radioactive waste), there will be engineering and natural barriers placed in series to contain radioactivity, and the structure will be designed according to the best international standards. The protective engineering barriers will be made of specific reinforced concrete mixes, so as to confine the radioactivity in the waste for the time necessary for it to decay. At the end of this period, the radioactivity will be at levels that cannot be distinguished from natural radioactivity, and therefore there will be no further need for the protection of the multi-barrier system.

Inside 90 reinforced concrete constructions (the 'cells'), large special concrete containers (the so-called 'modules') will be placed, which in turn will enclose the metal containers with the already conditioned radioactive waste, known as artefacts. Some 78,000 cubic metres of very low and low-level waste will be permanently placed in the cells. Once backfilling is complete, the cells will be covered with an artificial hill of inert, impermeable materials, which will provide additional protection and allow the infrastructure to blend in with its surroundings. In a special area of the repository, a complex of buildings will be constructed that will be suitable for the long-term storage of approximately 17 thousand cubic metres of medium- and high-level waste, which will remain temporarily at the repository, before being permanently placed in a geological repository.