| 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
5. Current programs and main issues
5.1 Some aspects and key points Sogin has revised all decommissioning programs according to the Government's guidelines, with the target to reach the complete radiological release of all NPP’s sites within 2020.
ENEA has also developed a program in compliance with the Government indications, ending in 2015. However, SOGIN, after taking over the licenses in 2003, is evaluating any program change that could take advantage of all synergies possible in a totally integrated decommissioning system.
The new plan defines the schedule of main activities on each site, with a view to the optimisation of costs and resources of the entire Italian system. As for the techniques of decontamination and dismantling that will be used, detailed technical aspects in some cases have still to be defined. Considering in particular the level of contamination and other technical and economic factors, different procedures for chemical and/or mechanical decontamination for main components are under evaluation.
Difficulties related to the decommissioning programs are mainly connected to the facts that all NPP's are of different technologies, all of them are stand alone, they are quite far each from the other and the local social context is quite different. The same difficulties apply to Fuel Cycle installations.
All decommissioning activities are performed complying with conditions and technical specifications laid down in the decommissioning license. The 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 license or, possibly, in the operation licence for the sections still in force. Moreover special technical requirements applicable to new equipment or new specific operations are laid down on a case by case basis after a preliminary safety and radiation protection analysis.
The concept also applies to the use of new technologies, for which adequate experimental tests are often required. Special emphasis is given to radiological characterisation of the installation and of materials.
APAT supervises decommissioning operations and carries out inspections to verify compliance with technical specifications concerning safety and radiation protection.
Main uncertainties connected with the implementation of the program are linked with the specification for the repository, and with the date of its actual availability.
5.2 Clearance Levels
The definition of clearance levels is particularly relevant, since the decommissioning of a nuclear plant produces a relevant amount of solid materials, most of which presents very low levels of radioactivity, such to allow their reuse or disposal as conventional wastes.
It has also a strong impact on: - the characterisation of the plants,
- the decontamination processes,
- the methods of materials control,
- the amount of material to ship to the future national repository.
A general criterion is in force in Italy for unrestricted release. Radioactive materials can be unconditionally released from regulatory control if the radionuclides concerned comply with both a concentration and a radioactive half life threshold: - C ≤ 1 Bq/g, and
- half-life < 75 days.
If both conditions above are not complied with, a specific authorisation is required for releases, reuse and recycle of the materials concerned. The authorisation is given on the basis of an analysis which has to demonstrate compliance with the basic 'below regulatory concern' criterion below, both conditions of which must be met: - Effective dose ≤ 10 µSv/year, and
- either Effective collective dose ≤ 1 man·Sv/year or the analysis demonstrates that exemption is the optimum option.
An example of application of the above criteria for solids is the recent authorisation for decommissioning of the Caorso NPP. The thresholds for the various nuclides are shown in the following table. | Nuclide | Metal material | Building rubble | Other materials | | | Bq/g | Bq/cm2 | Bq/g | Bq/cm2 | Bq/g | | H3 | 1 | 10.000 | 1 | 10.000 | 0.1 | | C14 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 1.000 | 0.1 | | Mn54 | 1 | 10 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 | | Fe55 | 1 | 1000 | 1 | 10.000 | 0.1 | | Co60 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 | | Ni59 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 10.000 | 0.1 | | Ni63 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 10.000 | 0.1 | | Sr90 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 0.1 | | Sb125 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | | Cs134 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 | | Cs137 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | | Eu152 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 | | Eu154 | 1 | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.1 | | α emitter | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.01 | | Pu241 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 0.1 |
For metal scrap, ah hoc technical specifications have been provided for, with a view to controlling the final destination of the metal material meant for foundry; for instance, the foundry will be required to mix the metal scrap from the plant with uncontaminated scrap in a 1/10 ratio.
No specific criteria are provided for in the Italian legislation for the release of regulated facilities and/or sites, although the general criteria stated above obviously apply. As an aid to determining release levels the recommendations of the European Commission's Publication 113 can be used.
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