Grossi (IAEA): "Congratulations to the ISIN. Maximum confidence in the Italian system"

Full collaboration between IAEA and ISIN and shared commitment to strengthen the international network for the safe management of civil nuclear activities were reiterated today during the meeting between Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Maurizio Pernice, Director of the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection.

The ISIN Director, the Coordinator of the ISIN Advisor Board Stefano Laporta and the managers of the Inspectorate explained the IAEA Director General the main activities of the Italian authority, included in the peculiarity of the national situation where, after the closure of the four nuclear power plants decided by a popular referendum in 1987 and reaffirmed in 2011, extensive decommissioning  and radioactive waste management programmes to be regulated  are in progress together with civil and medical uses of radioactive sources.

The Director Grossi was also updated on the path for the construction of the single national nuclear waste repository, which was accelerated with the presentation, last January, of the Chart of Potentially Suitable Areas (CNAPI), validated by the Inspectorate to which, in the subsequent phases of the process, an active part is assigned both in terms of the authorization process and the control of implementation activities.

The IAEA Director General congratulated ISIN for the positive management of the transition from the previous regulatory framework to the birth of the Inspectorate, which took place effectively in the context of an evolutionary and organizational process that was not simple.

"Italy - stated Rafael Grossi - is an important partner for us, a country that helps the Agency a lot, and the IAEA for its part is ready to be a strong support for Italy. We have many challenges ahead of us and we have the maximum confidence in the Italian system to manage them together on an international level ".

Grossi and Pernice, who also had a very cordial private exchange of views, broke up by making an appointment in Vienna, the headquarters of the IAEA, for the resumption of international activities "in presence", once the pandemic emergency will be over.