Non-binding expressions of interest from Regions and local authorities to build the National Repository for Radioactive Waste. This is the next move that Italy is preparing to make after Sogin has completed the National Charter of Suitable Areas (CNAI). The map has been sent to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which has strategic responsibilities in this sector. The document was presented at the end of the public consultation launched on 5 January and concluded on 14 .
The consultation was managed entirely by Sogin and saw hundreds of participants. Those most interested in the construction of the National Repository for Radioactive Waste and the relative Technology Park expressed their positions during three phases. The first lasted six months with over 300 initial observations (but in the end there were many more). Then a National Seminar started, from September to November 2021. Local attention to the mega infrastructure that will have to safely close the history of Italian nuclear power plants manifested itself in Piedmont, Tuscany, Lazio, Puglia, Basilicata, Sicily, Sardinia. In reality, they are the Regions with the least territorial allocation problems. The attention of committees and groups of citizens for what will have to be built has never waned.
Radioactive waste repository: 25 pages of observations
"The CNAI proposal that Sogin sent to the Ministry of Ecological Transition - explains the public company - was prepared on the basis of over 600 questions, observations and proposals, for a total of over 25.000 pages". A voluminous dossier of deeds, documents, studies, technical reports and maps presented over the course of a year. However, the Ministry of Ecological Transition must receive the technical opinion of the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN). Only after this other consent can the Charter be approved with a decree shared with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Mobility.
Are we really on the finishing straight? It's not for sure. The story of the Deposit in recent months has overlapped with the debate on new generation nuclear power. In Europe – apart from France which the Depot created in an initially hostile area – the conservation of residues is not ignored by politics. The EU directive in this regard provided for the conclusion of the process, even, for 2015. But the years following that date were the most bitter between the successive governments and the local oppositions. 2025 is today, however, the new deadline to be respected to choose one of the 67 potentially suitable Italian areas.
