THE DECOMMISSIONING OF THE LATINA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

摘要

Following a referendum in Italy in the late 1980s, the four nuclear power stations ownedrnand operated by the state utility ENEL were closed down. During the late 1990s, twinrndecisions were made to privatise ENEL and to transform the nuclear division of ENEL intorna separate subsidiary of the ENEL group. This group was renamed Sogin and during thernpast year, the shares in the company have been transferred from ENEL to the ItalianrnTreasury. After agreeing to close the Italian NPPs, ENEL selected a “safestore”rndecommissioning strategy; anticipating a safestore period of some 40-50 years. Thisrnapproach was consistent with the funds collected by ENEL during plant operation, and wasrnreinforced by the lack of both a LLW repository and an unambiguous set of clearancernlimits for the free release of contaminated materials in Italy.rnOn formation, Sogin was asked by the Italian government to review the nationalrndecommissioning strategy. The objective of the review was to move from a safestorernstrategy to a prompt decommissioning strategy, with the target of releasing all of thernnuclear sites by 2020. It was recognised that this target was conditional upon thernavailability of a national LLW repository together with interim stores for both spent fuelrnand HLW by 2009. The government also agreed that additional costs caused by thernacceleration of the decommissioning programme would be considered as stranded costs.rnThese costs will be recovered by a levy on the kwh price of electricity, a processrnestablished and controlled by the Regulator of the Italian energy sector.rnAs Sogin considered the development of new strategies for their NPPs, they looked tornBNFL for assistance. BNFL is currently decommissioning three Magnox stations in thernUK and is at an advanced stage of planning for the decommissioning of two further NPPs,rnone of these being Bradwell, the sister station to the Latina plant. BNFL Group also hasrnconsiderable experience of prompt decommissioning programmes through, amongst others,rntheir work at the WAGR reactor in the UK and at Big Rock Point in the US. Therncombination of Sogin's site and plant operations experience with BNFL's power reactorrndecommissioning including remote operations, planning and regulatory experience was arnperfect fit.rnOver the past year, a revised decommissioning programme, drawing upon the combinedrnexperience of the two companies, has been developed. This has incorporated a study forrndismantling the reactor vessel and contents, the bio-shield and embedded equipment andrnthe handling and packaging of wastes for disposal. This has been achieved despite a veryrndemanding time-scale. Theoretical and practical experiences from both Sogin's siternoperations and BNFL's operations in North America and Europe have been used tornquantify liabilities and progress the planning process to the point where Sogin have beenrnable to define their funding requirements for Latina with their stakeholders .