Nuclear Waste Governance in Italy: Between Participation Rhetoric and Regionalism

Abstract

Italy has abandoned its nuclear power ambitions in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster and following the decision of the popular referendum held on 8 November 1987. However, nuclear waste from four permanently shut down nuclear plants, various research reactors, reprocessing and fuel fabrication facilities represents a pressing problem. The nuclear waste governance in Italy is characterised by a complex, intertwined relationship and interaction between the different political-territorial levels from the national, the regional to the local. Recently, after a long period of incoherent stop and go nuclear research and industrial policies, local opposition and a subsequent deadlock, the mandatory search for a national site has started taking shape. The national map of potentially suitable area released in 2021 was followed by a series of consultations to which several institutional and civil society actors participated. In January 2022, the public consultation was concluded and in March 2022 the proposed National Map of Suitable Areas (NACI) was submitted to the Ministry of Ecological Transition for approval. The final site search process should lead to the location of a site, which should initially house 78,000 cubic metres of intermediate and low-level waste as well as 17,000 cubic metres of HLW. The latter should be stored for a maximum of 50 years to be then placed in a deep geological repository about which nothing has been revealed at the moment. This challenges institutional actors, like the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the regulator and the operator to adopt inclusive and decentralised forms of decision making. The process is therefore expected to be slow and cumbersome and will require more democratic approaches to nuclear waste management.