| 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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