Radioactive waste management and events monitoring in Ukraine, the nuclear safety inspectorates of Italy and Switzerland compared.
Radioactive waste management and events monitoring in Ukraine, the nuclear safety inspectorates of Italy and Switzerland compared.
The 10th meeting of the Italian-Swiss Commission (CIS) for cooperation in nuclear matters, which includes the independent regulatory authorities of the two countries, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate - ENSI and the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN) began this morning in Rome, in implementation of the Collaboration Agreement signed by the two Inspectorates in 2020, replacing a similar act of 28 June 2011, for the exchange of information in the event of nuclear accidents and significantly contribute to the safety of the population of both countries. In particular, during these annual meetings, Italy and Switzerland exchange information on the safety of nuclear plants, fuel cycle plants and radioactive waste treatment and storage, radiation protection, safety of nuclear plant decommissioning operations, planning of emergency, study of accident scenarios and other events of possible relevance for safety.
Maurizio Pernice, director of ISIN, and Felix Altorfer, director of ENSI's radioactive waste division, and a technical delegation from ISIN and ENSI participate in today's meeting; representatives of the Federal Office for Energy and the National Emergency Center are also present for Switzerland.
At the opening of the activities, the director of ISIN illustrated the innovations introduced into the national legal system by the previous bilateral meeting of 2022, and the main activities in which ISIN is engaged, in addition to the "institutional" competences of waste management control radioactive waste and decommissioning projects, also focusing on the process of acquiring new qualified personnel which was started in 2022 and completed last April.
One of the topics explored by the two delegations is site selection for the disposal of radioactive waste.
As far as Italy is concerned, the site selection process for the construction of the National Repository was discussed.
The Swiss delegation illustrated the state of implementation of the Sectoral Plan for the disposal of high-activity radioactive waste in geological formation in progress: in September 2022 the Lägern Nord site was selected, near the border with Germany and the third phase of the Sectoral Plan which will end in 2029 with the release, by ENSI, of the authorization for the construction of the disposal depot to the Swiss Agency for the management of radioactive waste - NAGRA.
It was also learned that following the entry into force of the Energy Act in 2017, the Swiss country embarked on two parallel paths: it chose to open up more to renewable energies and not to build further nuclear plants, but at the same time decided to keep existing ones operational as long as it is possible to guarantee their safety.
Updates on the measures that the two countries plan to adopt in the event of a nuclear emergency were also addressed and analyzed, also with reference to any accidental events that may occur in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the possibility that war events could cause damage to nuclear power plants in Ukraine has been carefully monitored by the Nuclear Emergency Center of ISIN through the USIE system (Unified System for Information Exchange in Incidents and Emergencies), with continuous messages, about 205, containing assessments and insights sent to the Department of Civil Protection 205 messages containing.
Furthermore, from 27 February 2022, the Inspectorate has asked the National Radioactivity Surveillance Network (RESORAD) to make the data relating to atmospheric particulate measurements, which are carried out routinely, available in real time. A total of 30,792 measurements have so far been carried out on 5,019 samples and in no case have radiometric anomalies been detected.
The meeting will conclude in the evening. The technical visit to the Latina nuclear power station is scheduled for tomorrow.
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