Nuclear Power Stations

[Charles Phillips]

Some of you may know that one of the present government's election promises was to build some nuclear power stations, and the energy suppliers hope to have 10% of Italian electricity generated this way by 2020.

In 1983 the Italian government was thinkng about some new nuclear power stations, and identifed some locations. In 1986 there was a referendum, and the Italians rejected the idea of nuclear power stations.

The article attached makes the reasonable presumption that the sites identified for nuclear power stations in 1983 are likely to be prime candidates as sites for the current proposals; and further suggests that the dump site for nuclear waste could be anywhere.

So, it isn't dreadfully topical (though the story keeps raising it head in the domestic Italian press on a weekly basis), but it came to mind when looking at some disparaging comments about certain areas of Italy, and reading the 'due diligence' question. Just something else to worry about...

Quattro centrali entro il 2020 Ecco il piano nucleare dell'Enel - ambiente - Repubblica.it

You might notice, reading the article, that highly seismic zones are relatively unlikely to have a nuclear power station sited in them. Nice to finish on an upbeat note, in't it!

[Marc]

I thought that Italy did actually implement a nuclear power programme, before abolishing it - I once met an engineer involved in de-commissioning the plants.

The reality today is that a large part of Italy's electricity is bought from French nuclear power plants and any fallout caused by an accident there would certainly not respect borders. I still don't approve of it though!

[Noma]

... and further suggests that the dump site for nuclear waste could be anywhere.

Priceless!

[adriatica]

the new government is just progressing what the previous government had already started and so there is not much news in that... it is a question that arrives because of international agreements over levels of pollution and agreements made to deduce the amount of waste Italy pours into the air.... they either have to go this way in a sense or else ban motor cars completely...or shut down power stations ...

as energy costs rise the italian population is getting more favourable to the idea and with problems more from eastern european old and not well maintained sites in the north east of italy they have permanent monitoring stations posted to check for anything coming their way.... if there is a threat its more likely to be an accident off of that side that the french side...

heres a link to a poll
L'espresso | Nucleare, rischio o opportunità?

its obvious that italians are still nervous about progressing a nuclear programme... however with the majority voting no in this poll you also have to bear in mind that there is a very active well organised anti lobby ... so votes against are always likely to be more at this stage...

what most people do not seem to realise is that it could well be better for Italy if its nuclear programme had continued... one of the major problems in suddenly deciding to shut it all down is that you then have to spend money cleaning up the sites...

so twenty years ago the clean started and virtually nothing has been done... and whats worse is that the places leak like sieves locally contaminating rather than air born widespread contamination...had they get their program going plants would have been maintained and older ones shut as they came to the end of their useful life,,, the decommissioning being paid for by earnings off of newer plants

Sommersi dai veleni radioattivi | L'espresso

now people living near this place may well look at naples and have a bit of a mutter about the uncivilized locals but do a bit of research on this place and you will find that it is ... Casaccia

ENERGIA NUCLEARE - Centro Deposito della Casaccia

its worth taking a brief look at the link above because if you scroll to the bottom it lists all the nuclear sites in italy... which obviouly if looking for a place to buy or even have a holiday might well help in your choice

heres a follow through link about current nuclear production in piedmonte

Zona Nucleare - L' impianto ex-ENEA FN-Fabbricazioni Nucleari di Bosco Marengo (Alessandria)


... or people quite happy living near monte cassino...historically famous for its battle might find it surprising to learn that italy does have nuclear power stations...its just they are decomposing not producing....

ENERGIA NUCLEARE -

for those with less italian than others its quite hard to find articles in english... well i tend to look at italian ones anyway... i read the one above at my dentists waiting room a fair while back now however if you click on some of the town names ...which i did you get a few bits in english in the wikipedia

Nuclear power in Italy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

this shows a map of some of the old sites and proposed new sites...and i am sure there is more to be found out...

so forget about italys new nuclear programme... suggest you worry more about its old abandoned stuff ... thirty year old technology ...at least these new ones should be a lot cleaner , a lot safer and nowadays controlled a lot more by outside agencies...making sure that its done properly

[adriatica]

sorry to appear like I'm hogging this thread...well as replies go at the moment it does seem that i am...

here's an interesting article translated into English which i think gets to the route of the problem as regards Italy and its energy problems...and why it needs to do something... for those paying energy bills here already it will confirm most of what you know about the costs...

anyway... i think its an interesting read and worth mentioning

Corriere.it

[Noma]

I'm definitely taking your advice to "forget about italys new nuclear programme". What I don't think about can't hurt me, right?

[Neil T]

Excellent article.

[AllanMason]

Very interesting article, but one that leaves me feeling exasperated and depressed.

As much as I get a grim sort of amusement from watching sanctimonious Green types say "No" to every possible form of energy generation on grounds that range from the reasonably sensible to the totally whacko (wind turbines "hacking birds to death", indeed), I do find it nice to have the lights come on when I flick a switch.

I was vaguely aware that Italy’s electricity system was – as they say in Scotland – hanging on a shoogly nail, but the figures in that article mean the situation is more alarming than I believed. Astonishing that things have been allowed to drift into this state.

It really is time for me to actually get the photovoltaic system I’ve been thinking about for almost two years now. It won’t do much to solve Italy’s problem, but at least we could be sure that our fridge will continue to run when the network next collapses for any one of a number of possible reasons.

Al