The nuclear industry publication ‘Nuclear Fuel’ confirms the long-suspected plan by Italy to export 235 tonnes of spent fuel to the UK for reprocessing. The lack of a national repository in Italy for these wastes, coupled with security and safety concerns about the stores in which the fuel is currently held is seen to be driving the export plan.
The Italian Government abandoned the country’s nuclear power programme in 1987 following a post-Chernobyl public referendum. The last reactor closed down in 1990, by which time some spent fuel had already been contracted for reprocessing at Sellafield. However, the remaining fuel (the 235 tonnes subject of the latest plan) was never contracted for reprocessing and was always destined for long-term management/disposal in Italy. Along with other Italian nuclear wastes, the mangement of the uncontracted spent fuel is the responsibility of the state-owned organisation SOGIN (Societa Gestione Impianti Nucleari).
In 2003, the Italian Government and SOGIN were forced by public opposition to abandon two sites they had identified as being suitable as a national repository. Driving the need for such a site were increasing anxieties about security (post 9/11) of the materials which have been stored since 1990 in a number of sites throughout Italy. Compounding the anxieties were the concerns that some of the stores were reaching the end of their ‘shelf life’, having originally been intended as temporary storage facilities.
The Nuclear Fuel article (3rd January 2005) quotes SOGIN as saying that it will be putting the future managament the spent fuel out to tender in February or March this year, with bids evaluated and contracts concluded between April and June 2005.. Further, “it would seek to have the reprocessor (BNFL or Cogema) keep the final waste products in storage until the availability of a final repository in Italy” and, being incapable of re-using the plutonium and uranium recovered from the spent fuel by reprocessing would “ try to leave all fresh material at BNFL”.
Uk Ministers have already been warned about blatant attempts such as this by Italy to off-load nuclear materials problems onto other countries. In 1997 the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) warned that “it is conceivable that a situation may arise where a foreign concern was willing to enter into a reprocessing contract … with a United Kingdom company in order to rid itself of what is construed as a ‘waste management’ problem, possibly one of inadequate or hazardous storage”.
CORE, who received a Crown Court conviction in 2003 for physically opposing a shipment of Italian spent fuel being imported to Sellafield via Barrow docks, has alerted the UK authorities to the latest plan from Italy and is encouraging opposition from any other quarter.
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