Transfer of radioactive waste from the former Cemerad depot in Statte (TA) completed

The transfer operations of the last 141 drums containing radioactive waste from the former Cemerad depot in Statte (Taranto) to the Nucleco installations at the Casaccia Center (Rome) were concluded yesterday.

Among those present to witness the departure of this latest transport were Vera Corbelli, Extraordinary Commissioner for the implementation of the intervention to secure and manage hazardous and radioactive waste located in the former Cemerad depot, Vannia Gava, Deputy Minister of the Environment and Energy Safety, Serena Triggiani, Councilor for the Environment of the Puglia Region, Fabio Spada, Mayor of Statte, Francesco Campanella, Director of the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN), Mario Lazzeri, Executive Assistant to the CEO of Sogin, Nadia Cherubini, President of Nucleco and other representatives of the various State Agencies and Bodies involved in the operations.

The former Cemerad depot is a dilapidated structure which housed over 16,000 drums containing radioactive waste, mainly from medical, industrial and research activities, collected by the Cemerad company between the mid-1980s and 2000, the year in which the site was placed under judicial seizure by the Taranto Public Prosecutor's Office.

The transfer of over 16,000 drums to other depots deemed more suitable began in 2017, under the guidance of Extraordinary Commissioner Vera Corbelli.

The transfer operations were particularly complex given the state of abandonment and degradation in which the depot was located and the state of deterioration of the stacked waste, in addition to the lack of information on the actual content of the drums themselves. Numerous problems, not only of a technical and operational nature but also of a managerial and administrative nature, were resolved thanks to the close synergy with the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radioprotection (ISIN) and with the involvement of SOGIN, NUCLECO and other state administrations and companies.

It should be noted, however, that the activities at the former Cemerad depot have not ended but will continue with the radiological characterization of the site, for the purpose of its remediation, as well as the release, without radiological constraints, of all the areas involved.