Notes: Pant, Rana Koehler, Annette de Beaufort, Angeline Braune, Anna Frankl, Paolo Hauschild, Michael Kloepffer, Walter Kreissig, Johannes Lindfors, Lars Gunnar Masoni, Paolo Pennington, David Riise, Ellen
Abstract: LCA as a decision-supporting tool in planning integrated municipal solid waste management is not, as yet, widely used in Italy. This paper presents a study concerning the application of the LCA methodology to support the development of the new waste management plan for the Bologna District. The main goal of the study was to show decision-makers at the political level the benefits obtainable with the use of LCA, in terms of the identification and quantification of the potential environmental impacts of different waste management strategies. The integrated waste management system of the Bologna District includes waste collection and transport, sorting, recycling, composting, incineration and landfilling. Three scenarios, referring to 2006 and assuming the presence of 950,000 inhabitants and the production of similar to 566,000 t of waste in the district, have been compared. A detailed model has been developed in order to capture effects related to the waste fraction from separated collection and to the different waste treatments. The discussion of the results has focussed in particular on the greenhouse effect and the acidification potential. On the basis of the results obtained, the analysis of an additional scenario characterised by a further increase in separated collection has been put forward. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Notes: Buttol, P. Masoni, P. Bonoli, A. Goldoni, S. Belladonna, V. Cavazzuti, C.
Abstract: The identification of significant pollutants emitted from the contamination source is the first step in evaluating the impact associated with anthropic activity. Municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerators are still generally perceived as great pollutant sources, in particular due to their gaseous emissions from the stack, which constitute the major effluent from the plant. In this work a life cycle assessment and an integrated environmental monitoring system were applied together, in order to obtain complete information about the incineration process and its environmental impact. The former is a proven methodology, but its application to waste management systems constitutes a relatively new field of application with a great developmental potential. The contribution of the incineration process to the different environmental impact categories was investigated, finding many avoided impacts due to energy recovery. The latter is an innovative approach that allows a remarkable understanding of impact due to a contamination source; interesting correlations were found between heavy metals both in gas emissions and in natural matrices in the surroundings. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Abstract: ENEA began work on seismic isolation in Italy in 1988 in cooperation with ISMES. Until now, work has been limited to horizontal systems and focused on high-damping steel-laminated elastomer bearings. Work consists of both the assessment of proposed design guidelines for isolated nuclear reactors (developed in collaboration with General Electric Company) and research and development (R&D) experimental and numerical studies, partly performed in support of the guideline development. Experiments include static and dynamic characterization of single bearings, analysis of a full-scale isolated structure and an actual building with in situ techniques, and shake table tests of scaled isolated structures. The main features of the guidelines document and R&D studies are described, and some initial measured data are presented.
Abstract: Work on seismic isolation of nuclear and non-nuclear structures was started by ENEA in cooperation with ISMES in 1988. The first activity consisted of a proposal for guidelines for seismically isolated nuclear plants using high-damping, steel-laminated elastomer bearings. This is being performed in the framework of an agreement with General Electric Company. Furthermore, research and development (R & D) work has been defined and recently initiated to support development of the seismic isolation guidelines as well as that of qualification procedures for seismic isolation systems in general. The present R & D work includes static and dynamic experiments on single bearings, shake table tests with multi-axial simultaneous excitations on reduced-scale mockups of isolated structures supported by multiple bearings, and dynamic tests on large-scale isolated structures with on-site test techniques. It also includes the development and validation of finite-element nonlinear models of the single bearings, as well as those of simplified design tools for the analysis of the isolated structures' dynamic behavior. Extension of this work is foreseen in a wider national frame.
