Italian used fuel arrives in France

The latest shipment of used nuclear fuel from Italy to France has been completed. Two casks left the Avogadro storage site in Saluggia on 9 May, arriving the next day at the Valognes railway terminal that serves Areva's La Hague recycling plant. The used fuel in storage at Avogadro came from the Trino Vercellese pressurized water reactor, which shut down in 1990, and the Garigliano boiling water reactor, which shut down in 1982. A 2007 contract between Areva and Italian radioactive waste and decommissioning company Sogin covers the reprocessing of fuel from these units as well as from Caorso. Shipment of 190 tonnes of used fuel from that plant, which shut down in 1990, was completed in 2010. The current shipment is the second to be made from the Avogadro site and the 18th to be made from Italy to France, according to Areva.