Caorso nuclear power plant (PC), ISIN supervisions on preparatory activities for the shipment of radioactive waste for treatment in Slovakia (SK).

Last week, the preparatory activities for the first shipment for the treatment and conditioning in Slovakia of the waste deriving from the previous operation of the Caorso plant were started by SO.G.I.N.

These operations, whose operational plan was approved by ISIN last October, will concern the sending of approximately 5,500 drums containing spent radioactive ion exchange resins and radioactive sludge suitably prepared for transport in ISO certified containers. The expected shipments will be made over two years. The waste that will be sent for treatment in Slovakia constitutes, as regards the radioactivity present in them, more than 90% of the waste still stored in the plant.

The control action carried out by ISIN officials concerned, in particular, the packaging operations of the waste currently stored in the ERSMA depot, in which a new device for the remote handling of the drums and the related radiological characterization management system was installed. The operational phases, subject to control, included the identification and extraction of a drum, its "overpack" packaging, radiological characterization and final placement within an ISO container.

The shipments of the waste will consist of four ISO containers at a time and SO.G.I.N. expects the start of the first shipment to take place by January 2020.