Italian Nuclear Material: Sogin Response To Gtri Action Paper

Reference id aka Wikileaks id #183899  ? 
Subject Italian Nuclear Material: Sogin Response To Gtri Action Paper
Origin Embassy Rome (Italy)
Cable time Fri, 19 Dec 2008 08:50 UTC
Classification CONFIDENTIAL
Source http://wikileaks.org/cable/2008/12/08ROME1538.html
References 08ROME1528
History First published on Thu, 1 Sep 2011 23:24 UTC
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ROME 001538

SIPDIS

ISN/NESS FOR J. MENTZ AND D. FENSTERMACHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2018
TAGS: ENRG [Energy and Power], IT [Italy], KNNP [Nuclear Non-Proliferation], TPHY [Physical Sciences], TRGY [Energy Technology]
SUBJECT: ITALIAN NUCLEAR MATERIAL: SOGIN RESPONSE TO GTRI 
ACTION PAPER 

REF: A) ROME 1528 B) 11/26/08 PRESTON-ROBINSON E-MAIL
     C) 07/03/08 STAPLES-PRESTON E-MAIL D) ROME
     287 (NOTAL) E) STATE 15562 (NOTAL)

Classified By: Economic Minister Counselor Tom Delare for
reasons 1.4 (b, d).

¶1.  (U) This cable is classified Confidential (Releasable to
Italy) for transmission purposes.  For the purpose of
discussion with officials of the Government of Italy (GOI)
and wholly-GOI-owned entities such as the Societa Gestione
Impianti Nucleari (SOGIN), the inventory below may be
declassified and marked as "SENSITIVE PHYSICAL SECURITY 
INFORMATION."

¶2.  (SBU) Summary.  Officials of Italian nuclear site
management firm SOGIN welcome the chance to discuss possible
disposition of Italian nuclear "gap" material through the
U.S. Department of Energy's Global Threat Reduction
Initiative (GTRI).  In response to DOE's "Proposed GTRI
Action Paper for SOGIN and ENEA" (ref C), SOGIN provided an
inventory of all of the nuclear material formerly controlled
by Italy's Agency for New Technology, Energy and the
Environment (ENEA), and now controlled by SOGIN.  SOGIN
requests that the USG respond with an official letter,
confirming USG interest in such discussions.  SOGIN's
inventory and cover letter are included below.  Post
recommends that the USG respond promptly, since a potential
reorganization of SOGIN in spring 2009 may make negotiations
after March 2009 infeasible. End summary.

¶3.  (SBU) On 16 October, following a USG-GOI interagency
meeting on nuclear physical protection (ref A), DOE/NNSA
Program Director Phil Robinson and SCICouns met with SOGIN
officials to follow up on ref C request for an updated
inventory of special nuclear material in Italy.  (Ref C
summarizes issues raised during a May GTRI team visit to
Italy; trip planning details are in refs D and E.)  The SOGIN
officials then conducted a thorough review of all of their
holdings of ex-ENEA nuclear material.  The results are
summarized in the tables below.  Note that the tables do not
reflect all special nuclear material present in Italy, nor
all nuclear material under the control of SOGIN.  However,
they do appear to contain significant potential areas for
GTRI-SOGIN cooperation.

Cover letter; USG reply needed
------------------------------

¶4.  (SBU) Per ref B, on 26 November 2008, Mr. Davide Urso of
SOGIN International and Regulatory Affairs delivered to
SCICouns the following letter on SOGIN letterhead:

"Protocol Number 0035984 of 26 November, 2008

Dear Jean,

As a follow-up to the document sent to us in July 2008
(ref B) and to the meeting held in Rome in October 2008,
please find attached the list of materials that could
fall under your proposal.

The list is confidential.

We look forward to receiving your assessment so to proceed
with a deeper technical discussion.

Best regards.

Yours sincerely,

Executive Vice President
Regulatory, Public Affairs and Communication
Gabriele Mazzoletti"

¶5.  (SBU) Urso said that SOGIN now needs a reply from the
USG, on official paper with a colored letterhead (either DOE
or State letterhead will do).  The letter could be very
short, along the lines of: "Thank you for the information.
We are assessing it, and will get back to you with more
concrete proposals soon.  We believe that some of the
material on your list may well meet the criteria for

ROME 00001538  002 OF 004


disposition under the GTRI program, and we look forward to
discussing those options with you further."  Once SOGIN has
received the USG letter, SOGIN will formally consult with GOI
nuclear security authority ISPRA (the Higher Institute for
Environmental Protection and Research) and with EURATOM,
which technically owns the material.   (EURATOM is aware of
the 2008 GTRI-SOGIN preliminary discussions, but SOGIN has
not yet formally notified them.)  Once ISPRA and EURATOM both
bless the proposed negotiations, then SOGIN will be ready to
meet with a GTRI team to discuss actual material transfers,
cost, and logistics.

¶6.  (SBU) The many proposals being discussed in the Italian
Parliament regarding Italy,s return to nuclear power include
provisions for dividing SOGIN into different parts and
putting it under a Commissioner with special authority to
restructure it.  SOGIN management is resisting these
proposals, but the outcome is not yet clear.   Post
recommends that the USG respond to SOGIN promptly, to
increase the chance of concluding negotiations before a
possible SOGIN reorganization, which could begin as soon as
March.

Inventory of Ex-ENEA Nuclear Material Controlled by SOGIN
--------------------------------------------- ------------

¶7.  (C)  Below is the inventory attached to VP Mazzoletti's
letter.  The left column indicates the site at which the
material is located.  The AECL facility is in Canada; the
rest are in Italy.  The EUREX facility and the Avogadro
storage site are in Saluggia, northwest of Turin.  The
numbers in parentheses refer to the notes at the bottom of
the table.


Table 1.  EX-ENEA NUCLEAR MATERIAL SUMMARY


-------------------------------
Highly-enriched uranium (grams)
-------------------------------


-                Fresh      Irradiated
CASACCIA
IPU             3465.2            ---

CASACCIA
OPEC               3.1          941.8

ITREC
TRISAIA        15398.4     (2)92414.2

EUREX              9.1         6760.9

AECL               ---           ---

DEPOSITO
AVOGADRO           ---        (5)69.0

TOTAL          18875.8       100185.9



----------------------------
Low-enriched uranium (grams)
----------------------------


-                Fresh      Irradiated
CASACCIA
IPU             6386.9            ---

CASACCIA
OPEC            5182.0     (1)63148.1

ITREC
TRISAIA         2754.0            ---

EUREX           5385.0          185.9

AECL               ---            ---

ROME 00001538  003 OF 004



DEPOSITO
AVOGADRO           ---            ---

TOTAL          19707.9        63334.0



-----------------------
Natural uranium (grams)
-----------------------


-                Fresh      Irradiated
CASACCIA
IPU           (3)96604.6           ---

CASACCIA
OPEC                ---        25964.0

ITREC
TRISAIA        1114042.8           ---

EUREX           251919.2       19612.0

AECL                ---           ---

DEPOSITO
AVOGADRO            ---           ---

TOTAL          1462566.6       45576.0



------------------------
Depleted uranium (grams)
------------------------

-                Fresh      Irradiated
CASACCIA
IPU             199489.6          ---

CASACCIA
OPEC            336850.0          ---

ITREC
TRISAIA        (4)6069.0          ---

EUREX              142.4       1774.0

AECL                 ---          ---

DEPOSITO
AVOGADRO             ---          ---

TOTAL           542551.0       1774.0


-----------------
Plutonium (grams)
-----------------

-                 Fresh     Irradiated
CASACCIA
IPU                5812.9         ---

CASACCIA
OPEC                  0.3       111.8

ITREC
TRISAIA               ---         ---

EUREX               166.3      4679.5

AECL               3176.4         ---

DEPOSITO
AVOGADRO              ---         ---

TOTAL               9155.9     4791.3



ROME 00001538  004 OF 004


NOTES:

(1) Of which 1644.1 g solid waste;

(2) Elk River fuel;

(3) Of which 62398 g solid and liquid waste;

(4) In nitric solution;

(5) Petten plates.

SPOGLI