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SOGIN ('' it, Società Gestione Impianti Nucleari'', the Nuclear Plant Management Company, which is also called Sogin) is an Italian
state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...
responsible for
nuclear decommissioning Nuclear decommissioning is the process whereby a nuclear facility is dismantled to the point that it no longer requires measures for radiation protection. The presence of radioactive material necessitates processes that are potentially occupat ...
as well as management and disposal of
radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...
produced by industrial, research and medical processes. Founded in 1999 following the 1987 Italian referendums on nuclear power, SOGIN was originally part of state owned
ENEL Enel S.p.A. is an Italian Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established ...
but became independent, but still government owned, in 2000. The company initially took over the
Caorso Caorso ( Piacentino: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about east of Piacenza. Caorso borders the following municipalities: Caselle Landi, ...
,
Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...
,
Garigliano The Garigliano () is a river in central Italy. It forms at the confluence of the rivers Gari (also known as the Rapido) and Liri. Garigliano is actually a deformation of "Gari-Lirano" (which in Italian means something like "Gari from the Liri"). ...
and
Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...
s, later adding other sites including ENEA's
EUREX Eurex Exchange is an international exchange which primarily offers trading in European based derivatives. It is the largest European futures and options market. The products traded on this exchange vary from German and Swiss debt instruments to E ...
. The company has commenced the decommissioning of all the plants and is predicted to complete the work in 2036. The company has been involved in
environmental remediation Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Remedial action is generally subject to an array of regulatory requirements, and may al ...
,
radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...
management and
nuclear safety Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...
work in Armenia, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, France, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and the Ukraine. SOGIN also undertakes other decontamination work and in 2005 started to help to decommission
nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...
s of the Russian Navy.


History

Following the 1987 referendums on nuclear power, the Italian government was required to decommission the country's remaining nuclear plants. SOGIN was conceived as the company to undertake this work. SOGIN was created on 1 November 1999 and took ownership of the closed
Caorso Caorso ( Piacentino: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about east of Piacenza. Caorso borders the following municipalities: Caselle Landi, ...
,
Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...
,
Garigliano The Garigliano () is a river in central Italy. It forms at the confluence of the rivers Gari (also known as the Rapido) and Liri. Garigliano is actually a deformation of "Gari-Lirano" (which in Italian means something like "Gari from the Liri"). ...
,
Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...
s from the
state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...
electricity company,
ENEL Enel S.p.A. is an Italian Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established ...
. Initially, SOGIN was created as a part of the ENEL group, but, following the passing of Legislative Decree no. 79, the so-called Bersani decree of 16 March 1999, which marked the beginning of the liberalization of the Italian electricity sector, it was decided to split the group. On 3 November 2000, the SOGIN shares were transferred to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. In 2003, SOGIN also took responsibility decommissioning ENEA sites like
EUREX Eurex Exchange is an international exchange which primarily offers trading in European based derivatives. It is the largest European futures and options market. The products traded on this exchange vary from German and Swiss debt instruments to E ...
, the OPEC research reactors in Cesano, and the ITREC plant in
Rotondella Rotondella ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Language People of Rotondella speak R'tunnar (Rontondellese), a dialect of Basilicata. Cuisine *U' pastizz 'rtunnar U' ...
. On 16 September 2004 SOGIN became a corporate group with the acquisition of 60% of the shares in Nucleco SpA (the remaining 40% being owned by ENEA). In 2005, SOGIN acquired the nuclear enrichment plant at
Bosco Marengo Bosco Marengo (; pms, Ël Bòsch ) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Alessandria in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about southeast of Alessandria. Bosco Marengo borders the following ...
, and, in 2012, the company started a three-year programme to decontaminate the boxes that had been used to store plutonium-contaminated gloves up to 1986. SOGIN launched the Observatory for the Closure of the Nuclear Cycle () with the ''Fondazione per lo Sviluppo Sostenibile'' (Foundation for Sustainable Development) in 2014 as an independent monitor of the social, environmental and technical aspects of nuclear sites. SOGIN was originally tasked to completely decommission the Italian nuclear plants by 2019, but it is likely to be 2036 before the task is complete.


Decommissioning activity

SOGIN is responsible for decommissioning four nuclear power plants, located in Caorso, Garigliano, Latina and
Trino Trino ( pms, Trin) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Vercelli, at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Trino borders the following mun ...
, as well as the operations in Bosco Marengo, Casaccia, Rotondella and
Saluggia Saluggia (''Salugia'' in Piedmontese) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Vercelli, near the Dora Baltea river. It is known in Ital ...
. The process, agreed in 2001, involves the systematic decontamination and deconstruction of the site with the aim that the area can be returned to normal use. Work initially starts with a pre-decommissioning stage, carried out under a protective storage license, where the plant stops operation but is no action is taken to dismantle the plant. When SOGIN took responsibility for Garigliano, the plant, which had not operated since 1982, was nearing completion of this stage. The seven sites under SOGIN's control have all gone through this stage in the process. After SOGIN has completed this task, the site is decontaminated and deconstructed. As well as radioactive material, other hazardous wastes need to be carefully handled, including asbestos insulation. This can take a long time; for example, at Garigliano, the removal of asbestos from the turbine building was complete by 2007 and yet the full decontamination of the reactor building was not complete until 2010. Only once it has been decontaminated can material safely be removed. Once this stage is complete, SOGIN requests a government license to dismantle the whole site. Full decommissioning then follows, including the removal of all buildings, and the ground is decontaminated. In all, over one million tonnes of material is expected to be recovered from the decommissioning process, of which 95% is non-radioactive. This process can take decades, with estimates for the total decommissioning time varying from 27 years for Garigliano to 32 years for Caorso and Trino. Costs are similarly high, with the total bill for Garigliano expected to reach $432.4 million by the time the site is handed over. The fuel enrichment site at Bosco Marengo was the first to start decommissioning. The process started in 2008 and was completed on 31 December 2021. The first nuclear power plant to gain permission to start full decommissioning was at Trino, the decrees being granted a decree by the Ministry of Economic Development on 2 August 2012. This was followed by a decree authorising the decommissioning of Garigliano on 26 September. Caorso and Latina were granted their licenses in 2014, in January and December respectively.


Senior management


National repository

In September 2008, a high-level discussion took place within the Italian government about a central repository for all nuclear waste. This led to, in 2010, SOGIN being given the responsibility for finding a surface site to store nuclear waste. SOGIN projected the repository to be a structure with engineering barriers and natural barriers to store approximately of low and intermediate level waste permanently, and of high level waste temporarily. SOGIN predicted that of this, 60% will come from decommissioned plants. The remainder were to come from scientific research, medical and industrial applications, both waste produced to date and that which was estimated to be generated over the next 50 years. The creation of the repository was a critical requisite for SOGIN to achieve its decommissioning deadline. The repository was to be hosted in a technology park that also contained research labs which would bring economic benefits to the community, as well as direct payment of compensation administered by SOGIN. Despite this, the search for a repository proved to be difficult. When the first site chosen, the
salt mines Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite formations. History Before the advent of the modern internal combustio ...
of
Scanzano Jonico Scanzano Jonico is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , de ...
, was announced in November 2003, it led to an unprecedented outcry with over 150,000 demonstrating against the decision with residents blocking roads and shutting down businesses. This led directly to the regional council declaring the area a denuclearised zone. Subsequent changes in national legislation have been put in place in an attempt to ensure that any future site can only be agreed by the
Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
after review by a panel of scientists. In 2012, the
Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...
passed a law that implied that all nuclear waste would be stored in the repository. However, continued controversy and the lack of progress finding a site has meant that, instead, waste is mainly stored in untreated form at the nuclear facilities themselves. This is also unpopular with neighbouring communities, who fear this will become a permanent solution.


International activity

As a consequence of the difficulty finding a long term solution in the country, waste material has instead been sent abroad, primarily to France and the UK. Initially, up to 2005, shipments were made to
BNFL British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) was a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It was a manufacturer of nuclear fuel (notably MOX), ran reactors, generated and sold electricity, reprocessed and managed spent fuel (mainly ...
in the UK. in November 2006 the Italian and the French governments agreed to transfer about of spent fuel to France which led to SOGIN signing a contract with
Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...
in April 2007. The first shipment under this agreement, of fuel from the Caorso nuclear power plant, was completed in June 2010. In 2015, SOGIN signed a similar contract with JAVYS (Jadrová a Vyraďovacia Spoločnosť), the Slovak nuclear decommissioning company, to send of waste to be processed at their site in
Jaslovské Bohunice Jaslovské Bohunice is a small village in Slovakia in the Trnava District. It is best known for the nearby Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant complex. The village arose in 1958 through a merge of Jaslovce (pop. 578 in 1948) and Bohunice (pop. 619 in 194 ...
. SOGIN signed an agreement with the
Radioactive Waste Repository Authority The Czech Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (SÚRAO) was established on 1 June 1997 as a state organisation established by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In 2001, SÚRAO assumed the status of a government agency. The Authority is headed b ...
(RAWRA) in the Czech republic in 2016 covering the storage of nuclear waste, including collaboration to develop a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste. As well as its core business of decommissioning Italian nuclear plants, SOGIN undertakes international consultancy in
environmental remediation Environmental remediation deals with the removal of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Remedial action is generally subject to an array of regulatory requirements, and may al ...
,
radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...
management and
nuclear safety Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...
. The company has undertaken projects at
Metsamor Metsamor ( hy, Մեծամոր, ), is a town and urban municipal community in the Armavir Province of Armenia. It is famous for being home to Armenia's Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, the only nuclear plant in the Transcaucasian region. As of the ...
in Armenia,
Belene Belene ( bg, Белене ) is a town in Pleven Province, Northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Belene Municipality. The town is situated on the right bank of the Danube river, close to the town of Svishtov. Ge ...
and
Kozloduy Kozloduy ( ) is a town in northwest Bulgaria, located in Vratsa Province, on the Danube River. The city was liberated from Ottoman rule on 23 November 1877 by the Romanian Army under the command of the Imperial Russian Army. Kozloduy is best kno ...
in Bulgaria,
Dukovany Dukovany is a municipality and village in Třebíč District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 900 inhabitants. It is known for the Dukovany Nuclear Power Station. Geography Dukovany is located about southeast of Tř ...
and Temelin in the Czech Republic,
Phénix Phénix (French for phoenix) was a small-scale (gross 264/net 233 MWe) prototype fast breeder reactor, located at the Marcoule nuclear site, near Orange, France. It was a pool-type liquid-metal fast breeder reactor cooled with liquid sodium. I ...
in France,
Aktau Aktau ( kk, Aqtau, Ақтау , russian: Актау) is a city in Kazakhstan, located on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. Its current name means "white mountain" in Kazakh, which may be due to its cliffs that overlook the Caspian. From 1964 to ...
in Kazakhstan,
Ignalina Ignalina ( pl, Ignalino) is a city in eastern Lithuania. It is known as a tourist destination in the Aukštaitija National Park. Ignalina is also famous for the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in nearby Visaginas. Legend It is said that Ignalina ha ...
in Lithuania, Cernavodă in Romania,
Beloyarsk Beloyarsk may refer to: * Beloyarsk, Altai Krai, a former urban-type settlement in Altai Krai, Russia; since 2005—a (rural) settlement * Beloyarsk, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a settlement in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia *Beloya ...
,
Bilibino Bilibino (russian: Били́бино) is a town and the administrative center of Bilibinsky District in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. It is located northwest of Anadyr, the administrative center of the autonomous okrug. It is the second la ...
, Kalinin and
Kola KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio for ...
in Russia, Bohunice and
Mochovce Mochovce ( hu, Mohi) is a former village in western Slovakia, best known for its nuclear power plant. It is situated in Nitra Region, northwest of Levice. The village inhabitants were relocated and the village was destroyed to make place for the ...
in Slovakia and
Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi ( uk, Хмельни́цький, Khmelnytskyi, ), until 1954 Proskuriv ( uk, Проску́рів, links=no ), is a city in western Ukraine, the administrative center for Khmelnytskyi Oblast (region) and Khmelnytskyi Raion (dist ...
and
Rivne Rivne (; uk, Рівне ),) also known as Rovno (Russian: Ровно; Polish: Równe; Yiddish: ראָוונע), is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the surrounding Rivne Raio ...
in the Ukraine. SOGIN has been actively involved in the G8 Glocal Partnership programme, launched at the 2002 G8 summit in Kananaskis, to support and accelerate Russia's nuclear disarmament. On 3 August 2005, an agreement was signed between SOGIN and the Ministry of Industry for the company to dismantle
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...
s. The programme required a specialist vessel, the ''Rossita'', to be constructed, which was delivered in 2011. In 2014, SOGIN signed an agreement with
China General Nuclear Power Group China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) (), formerly China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (), is a Chinese state-owned energy corporation under the SASAC of the State Council. In China, CGN operates nuclear plants at Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plan ...
(CGN) to remove parts from the nuclear fuel pool of a Chinese plant. The contract opened the door to the companies sharing expertise on nuclear decommissioning and collaborating on policies and strategies to manage radioactive waste and used fuel in China. Amongst the first projects is a joint study of an innovative process for the minimization, treatment and conditioning of radioactive waste in Italy.


Financial performance


See also

*
Nuclear power in Italy Nuclear power in Italy is a controversial topic. Italy started to produce nuclear energy in the early 1960s, but all plants were closed by 1990 following the Italian nuclear power referendum. As of 2018, Italy is one of only two countries, along ...


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Governmental nuclear organizations Nuclear power in Italy Nuclear technology companies of Italy