Nuclear, the government's plan for radioactive waste storage and small modular plants

With regard to the regulatory context, Pichetto Fratin reiterated the path he has implemented, which sees Giovanni Guzzetta, professor of Institutions of Public Law at the Tor Vergata University in Rome, "coordinate the working group with the aim of reorganising legislation in the sector, defining legislative proposals and a framework of actions to be taken". The experts' group's timetable envisages the presentation, the minister clarified, 'of a draft text for the enabling act by the end of 2024' that would enable production from nuclear sources through new sustainable nuclear technologies such as Smr, Amr and microreactors. The draft enabling act will then be submitted for parliamentary scrutiny in early 2025.

Once the regulatory framework has been defined, the minister then clarified, the focus would shift to the production and development of industrial projects, leaving the initiative "for the construction and operation of a small or micro-reactor to proponents, who may be private, public or mixed, and who intend to equip themselves with this stable energy source for their own purposes and within the decarbonisation pathway. It can therefore be the state itself,' Pichetto Fratin specified, 'but also industrial districts, large energy-intensive plants such as those for the production of steel, iron, cement and ceramics, to name but a few. And any initiatives will be scrutinised, the Mase owner explained, by the relevant authorities, including the nuclear safety authority.

Italy, the minister then recalled, has its own supply chain committed to nuclear power, and 'despite its absence from nuclear power generation for almost 40 years, it has continued to supply expertise and components to the international nuclear industry through its own companies, research centres, and universities'. Initially, the focus, the minister reasoned, will be on 'advanced Generation III, as these technologies are already consolidated worldwide; in parallel, we will continue to invest in research and development for Generation IV'. The goal, he continued, 'is to create a value chain that gravitates around a national industrial player of reference, of appropriate size and skills, that interfaces on a par with European and international countries, and that envisages a large part of the production chain that is not only Italian, but made in Italy'.

A stringent roadmap that will require an implementing body at the national level: 'To this end, we are also working on a hypothesis for the institutionalisation of the Platform for Sustainable Nuclear Power, as a technical advisory body to the government and a guardian of Italy's most important expertise in nuclear power.

Finally, a passage on the national radioactive waste repository, not before recalling 'that the safe management of radioactive waste is an obligation that Italy has not only towards the European Union but above all towards its own citizens today and future generations'. The identified areas that, after the re-mapping, have maintained the dimensions and suitability criteria for the construction of the repository "are as of today 51," Pichetto Fratin then explained, pointing out that "the one published is still a Cnai proposal (the document that identifies the areas suitable for hosting the repository), which has already been submitted to the opinion of Isin (the National Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection Inspectorate), but which cannot be considered the definitive charter until the completion of the Strategic Environmental Assessment procedure, which "may not only allow local administrations to participate again in the decision-making process, but may also offer the opportunity to investigate the possible economic and territorial development benefits associated with the construction of the national repository".

"Only after CNAI's final approval will it be possible to start the procedure to acquire any expressions of interest from the regions and local authorities," the minister added. The site identification procedure will be finalised after further technical investigations, discussions with local administrations, and the final binding opinion of Isin, the independent authority for nuclear safety and radiation protection'. A multi-stage process, therefore, to reach the final authorisation stage, which will include the environmental impact assessment (Via) and the issuing of the single authorisation for the construction and operation of the national repository. "On the basis of current estimates, assuming that all procedural steps are successful, it will be possible to obtain the single authorisation for the National Repository in 2029, with commissioning planned by 2039.

While waiting for the repository, the minister went on to say, alternative solutions are being considered, starting with the radioactive waste repositories, from very low activity (including medical waste) to high activity, including spent nuclear fuel, already located throughout Italy (there are about a hundred on 22 sites because Italy produces between 300 and 500 cubic metres of low and medium activity medical waste a year)". The idea therefore being considered, said Pichetto Fratin, "is to modernise the existing facilities, possibly expanding them, taking advantage of the possibility of doing so in locations potentially already suitable for the safe management of radioactive waste, also with a view to the return from abroad of high-level waste that has been there for reprocessing for several years.

The other analysis, the minister concluded, concerns the prospect of the use of fourth-generation Amr 'on some of which Italy is in a privileged position worldwide because it has been working for decades on a particular fourth-generation technology based on liquid lead cooling. These reactors, which will come onto the market at the turn of the 1940s, will be able to 'burn waste' with high activity and long life, in the sense of reusing it as new fuel within the reactors, with a view to a true circular economy, greatly reducing the decay time of this waste and consequently reducing or eliminating the need to build a geological repository'. The pairing of Generation IV Amr reactors with advanced Generation III Smr reactors 'could therefore bring, among many other benefits, the advantage of closing the fuel cycle and thus contributing to the sustainability of nuclear energy,' concluded Pichetto Fratin. 'Several countries around the world are focusing on the development of these new reactors.