ITALIAN NUCLEAR MATERIAL: SOGIN RESPONSE TO GTRI

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 IT KNNP TPHY TRGY 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