Italian tourist destinations in revolt over plan to build national nuclear waste facility

Pienza in Tuscany is one of the towns that could be affected by the new nuclear facility

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Some of Italy’s most picturesque regions, including Tuscany and Sardinia, are in revolt against the government after it released plans to build a national dump for burying nuclear waste.

The publication of a map of 67 potential nuclear dump sites – the culmination of a six-year study — prompted outrage and consternation from locals, mayors and regional leaders.

Some of the earmarked sites are close to areas that are popular with British holidaymakers, from the rolling, wooded valleys of Tuscany to the countryside around Matera, the ancient town in the south that is famed for its cave-like dwellings and was used as a location for the latest Bond film, No Time To Die.

The governors of the seven regions earmarked, including Tuscany, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily, vowed to fight the nuclear deposit.

They accused the government and SOGIN, Italy’s nuclear decommissioning agency, of failing to consult them.

Italy closed down its nuclear power plants after a referendum in 1987, held in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The new deposit would store waste from those power plants as well as radioactive material that is still produced by industry, hospitals and research centres.

Manolo Garosi, the mayor of Pienza, an attractive Tuscan hill town, said he was “incredulous” about the prospect of a nuclear dump being located in his region.

The area includes vineyards and celebrated hill villages such as Montalcino and Montepulciano.

“How can they be considering a region like ours, which has World Heritage recognition? It is totally unacceptable. This is an area of natural beauty,” he told Corriere della Sera newspaper.

“I can’t imagine what tourists would say when they come here looking for beauty and discover instead radioactive waste dumps.” His town was famous for wine, olive oil and pecorino cheese, he said.

The mayor of Matera said locating the dump near the historic town would be a “slap in the face,” particularly as it was a European City of Culture in 2019. “We’ll fight it at every level,” said Domenico Bennardi.

The mayor of Matera in Basilicata has vowed to fight any attempt to build the nuclear dump near his town

More than 20 of the potential dump sites are in the northern part of Lazio region, famed for its Etruscan heritage, small villages and farmland.

One of the sites is near the village of Gallese, where William Urquhart, a British businessman, helps run a country estate that his family has managed for more than a century.

Part of it is a WWF nature reserve, boasting centuries-old oaks and the remains of Etruscan monuments.

“It seems mad to choose an area of designated natural beauty for something like this,” he told The Telegraph. “The government seems to have sprung this on the country out of the blue, in the middle of a pandemic in which people have become more conscious than ever of the importance of protecting the environment.

“Of course no one wants buried nuclear waste where they live, but it needs to be an open, transparent process. Instead, it has come as a bombshell that will frighten a lot of people.”

With lots of streams, ponds and ditches in the area, it seems “hydrologically, as well as culturally, environmentally and socially, a poor choice,” he said.

The publication of the map of potential sites is the first stage in a long process that could last years.

“Now that people have seen the list, they can participate in the process and express their views,” said Roberto Morassut, the deputy environment minister.

The government said the deposit could bring benefits to a region – there will be 4,000 jobs during the construction phase and up to 1,000 jobs when it is operational.

Planners need to find a site that will be able to hold 78,000 cubic metres of low and medium intensity radioactive waste, plus 17,000 cubic metres of more dangerous waste.

The factors used for choosing the potential sites included the risk of volcanic and earthquake activity, the danger of flooding and the vicinity to inhabited areas. The 150-hectare facility will cost €900 million and take around four years to build.