Italian decommissioning and waste management company, Societa Gestione Impianti Nucleari (Sogin) has launched operations to re-encapsulate 64 uranium-thorium fuel elements at the ITREC plant in Rotondella (Matera), Basilicata. This marks a major milestone in transitioning the plant’s used nuclear fuel into safe dry storage.
The 64 fuel elements are what remains of 84 from the Elk River boiling water reactor in the US, sent to Italy between 1968 and 1970 for a joint scientific research programme on the thorium-uranium fuel cycle. The other 20 were the subject of a nuclear testing campaign conducted between 1975 and 1978, which produced three different radioactive liquid streams. These include:
- Final Product: some 3 cubic metres of nitric acid solution containing unseparated uranium and thorium, plus trace fission products.
- High-Level Waste: the extraction raffinate containing the bulk of the highly radioactive fission products stripped from the fuel.
- Low-Level Waste: process rinses and chemical distillates with much lower radioactivity concentrations.
To permanently eliminate the risk of liquid storage, Sogin is preparing the Finished Product Cementation Plant (ICPF – Impianto Cementazione Prodotto Finito) facility to immobilise these liquids into a stable solid form. The nitric solution will be mixed with a specialised concrete formulation inside a heavily shielded cell.
The resulting solid blocks lock the radioactive isotopes into a mineral matrix. This prevents leaks or chemical reactions. The concrete mixture cures inside robust steel drums, ready for transport to the future National Repository.
Technicians are performing the handling and re-encapsulation of the 64 fuel element completely submerged under a layer of water. This provides natural radiation shielding and guarantees safety.
The fuel elements are being loaded into containers designed for placement into two special dual-purpose metallic casks. These casks are engineered by Orano and manufactured in Italy. They safely hold 32 fuel elements each. These two metallic casks are Orano’s TN24 model, tailored specifically for the ITREC plant’s unique uranium-thorium fuel elements.
These containers are designed, tested, and certified to perform two distinct functions without needing to transfer the fuel again – transport and storage. The two hermetically sealed casks will reside in the site’s temporary storage facility until Italy opens its National Repository for permanent high-level waste disposal. Sogin expects to complete the entire re-encapsulation and pool-clearing process by mid-2027.
The activities are being carried out according to specific engineering procedures defined to ensure safety during all operational phases, and to allow visual inspection of all elements, aimed at verifying their structural integrity. This is the result of complex technical and organisational work achieved by the Company through constant dialogue with the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN – Ispettorato Nazionale per la Sicurezza Nucleare e la Radioprotezione).
Moving this fuel out of the pool allows Sogin to advance toward its final decommissioning objectives at the ITREC facility with the ultimate aim of achieving “brownfield” status.
