Nuclear and Sogin on "Mi Manda RaiTre"

28 January 2025

On 18 January 2025, an episode of the Italian TV programme “Mi Manda RaiTre”, hosted by Federico Ruffo, broadcast an in-depth study on the issue of nuclear power and radioactive waste management in Italy.

Opening with the activities undertaken at the Caorso power plant to dismantle the systems and components in the reactor building, which were illustrated by the Head of Decommissioning Viviana Cruciani, various aspects relating to nuclear energy were addressed during the transmission, including the need to find a site and build the National Repository for Italian radioactive waste.



The Chief Executive Officer of Sogin, Gian Luca Artizzu, was interviewed together with other sector experts, institutional and press representatives and environmentalists.

Regarding the costs of nuclear decommissioning, CEO Artizzu highlighted that “plants in Italy are no longer operational; they therefore have no provisions made for this as is the case in other countries. Otherwise, we would be talking about something that does not substantially have an impact because it would have paid for itself". Provisions for the decommissioning of Italian power plants were made by Enel.

The ongoing decommissioning is complex and divided into projects that have an operational research component, in compliance with much more stringent security criteria than those adopted in other countries.

Its costs "will exceed 7-8 billion" as "these plans - Artizzu explained - are based on current values", in respect of which inflation also needs to be considered, and, in the Italian case, the timing for the National Repository, as well as some obvious manipulations in past plans.

The Mi Manda RaiTre transmission from 18/01/2025 is available on​ Rai Play.