Technology park in connection with national filing of radioactive waste

The starting project idea arises from the need to provide a national disposal for radioactive waste as required by the European Union, in order to adjust Italy to the rest of the other European countries. The site will replace the temporary disposals realized near to the four former nuclear plants in the Italian territory, to permit plants decommissioning and the subsequent environmental rehabilitation of those areas. The disposal will be realized according to the most modern standards of environmental safety and ensuring maximum sustainability of the site thus using all the ‘Best Available Technique’ for the construction of Near Zero Energy Buildings and energy production systems from renewable sources. The Project is based on data coming from SOGIN (the Italian society for the decommissioning of nuclear plants) for the national radioactive waste disposal able to contain 90,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste and divided into two parts, allowing separate storage of the waste of first and second level, respectively, in quantities of 15.000 mc and 75.000 mc. The Technology Park close to the disposal, will be done with maximum transparency criteria, so to make the site not only accessible to citizens, but even a tourist attraction and a meeting area for the scholars, university students and researchers. In this technological park there are strong requirements for high security systems and an adequate transport and mobility plan designed even for critical situations. In fact in the designed Park there are even special protection systems from physical agents with the possibility, in case of danger, of an access to the closed collection points that are able to insulate workers and visitors from fire or radiation danger

A sustainable requalification of Bracciano lake waterfront in Trevignano Romano

This paper describes the first interventions carried out in accordance with the results of the three years bilateral research SoURCE (Sustainable Urban Cell) performed by CITERA (Inter department Centre for Territory, Building, Conservation and Environment) of the Sapienza University of Rome and the Department of Urban Planning and Environment of the Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm (KTH) regarding urban redevelopment and distributed micro-generation of buildings. The location is the municipality of Trevignano Romano in the area (urban cell) of the lake waterfront aimed at the integration of all facilities that will increase the tourist accommodation of the area. The concept of the project is to utilize empty spaces, in all lake waterfronts, for the construction of public toilets and showers, introduction of electric boat and bike rental for sightseeing with charging stations and construction of an energy efficient wooden prefabricated building to be used as a general shop for tourists (closest analogue service is about 3 km). The research is included in the executive programme for the scientific and technical cooperation between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Republic of Italy, in the area defined ‘Energy and Environment: Sustainable Cities’

sustainable requalification in restricted area the case study of flaminio stadium in rome

Abstract The requalification of neglected areas in urban contexts are considered as one of the main challenges to get the targets of environmental sustainability, energy efficiency and life quality currently required for smart cities. The management of deteriorated urban green areas increases human well-being and biodiversity conservation, facilitating the individuation of natural and anthropic risks as well as territorial vulnerabilities. In this context, the paper focused on the Flaminio Stadium in Rome that despite its central position in the city, is located inside a neglected area that could potentially be requalified offering services and facilities to citizens and tourists. This demonstration starts from a status quo study of chosen building and its surroundings in terms of energy analysis. This latter is, then, implemented by a techno-economic study to support its improvement in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability. The economic cost analysis evidences the difficulties to support a requalification cost of global district for the Municipality of Rome

SOURCE - Sustainable Urban Cells: outcome of a bilateral survey Italy-Sweden

The survey SoURCE was jointly elaborated by the Inter-Departmental Center CITERA and the Royal Institute KTH; the findings were tested in different contexts, one of which was a municipality in the Lazio region with which it is currently collaborating to support planning interventions and facilitate European funding applications. The methodology that is interdisciplinary at the various scales was designed to enhance both horizontal and vertical subsidiarity and to allow to locate shares of the urban fabric – urban cells – providing for an energy balance between consumption and production from renewable sources in a predetermined range. Then by adding more urban cells the energy network was optimized and then integrated with other service networks that were then put in place into a system constituting the network of networks creating an efficient urban cell as per the service supply system. The model designed as such can be addressed to a specific territory to be consequently integrated with its specific characteristics (historical, cultural, social). This would then become an appropriate plan and/or requalification module to apply to urban settlements for the purpose of creating the basis for a smart city

Mucoadhesive tablets for buccal administration containing sodium nimesulide.

The possibility of improving the flux of nimesulide across the buccal mucosa using the drug in the form of a sodium salt was investigated in our study. The salt form may increase to flux across buccal membrane, starting from a suspension; its lower permeation coefficient is compensated by a higher concentration gradient. The salt was inserted into a mucoadhesive tablet for buccal administration. The tablets were designed to prevent the loss of the drug into the saliva by means of a protective layer and placed on the area not in contact with the mucosa. Ten volunteers were used. The in vitro release from mucoadhesive tablets was examined through a porcine buccal mucosa, using a standard Franz cell, modified for present purposes. The advantages of a higher concentration gradient for the flux, related to a higher solubility of the salt, and to a sufficiently high permeation coefficient of the drug, despite the ionized form, could not be completely exploited, because the composition of the formulation destroys the chemical form of the drug

Mixtures of Chemical Pollutants at European Legislation Safety Concentrations: How Safe Are They?

The risk posed by complex chemical mixtures in the environment to wildlife and humans is increasingly debated, but has been rarely tested under environmentally relevant scenarios. To address this issue, two mixtures of 14 or 19 substances of concern (pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, a surfactant, and a plasticizer), each present at its safety limit concentration imposed by the European legislation, were prepared and tested for their toxic effects. The effects of the mixtures were assessed in 35 bioassays, based on 11 organisms representing different trophic levels. A consortium of 16 laboratories was involved in performing the bioassays. The mixtures elicited quantifiable toxic effects on some of the test systems employed, including i) changes in marine microbial composition, ii) microalgae toxicity, iii) immobilization in the crustacean Daphnia magna, iv) fish embryo toxicity, v) impaired frog embryo development, and vi) increased expression on oxidative stress-linked reporter genes. Estrogenic activity close to regulatory safety limit concentrations was uncovered by receptor-binding assays. The results highlight the need of precautionary actions on the assessment of chemical mixtures even in cases where individual toxicants are present at seemingly harmless concentration

Mixtures of chemical pollutants at European legislation safety concentrations: how safe are they?

The risk posed by complex chemical mixtures in the environment to wildlife and humans is increasingly debated, but has been rarely tested under environmentally relevant scenarios. To address this issue, two mixtures of 14 or 19 substances of concern (pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, a surfactant, and a plasticizer), each present at its safety limit concentration imposed by the European legislation, were prepared and tested for their toxic effects. The effects of the mixtures were assessed in 35 bioassays, based on 11 organisms representing different trophic levels. A consortium of 16 laboratories was involved in performing the bioassays. The mixtures elicited quantifiable toxic effects on some of the test systems employed, including i) changes in marine microbial composition, ii) microalgae toxicity, iii) immobilization in the crustacean Daphnia magna, iv) fish embryo toxicity, v) impaired frog embryo development, and vi) increased expression on oxidative stress-linked reporter genes. Estrogenic activity close to regulatory safety limit concentrations was uncovered by receptor-binding assays. The results highlight the need of precautionary actions on the assessment of chemical mixtures even in cases where individual toxicants are present at seemingly harmless concentrations

ANALISI TERRITORIALE FINALIZZATA ALL'INDIVIDUAZIONE DI INTERVENTI PER LA REALIZZAZIONE DI UNA SMART COMMUNITY

Lo scopo della presente tesi è essenzialmente quello di effettuare una “analisi, sulla valutazione e su una proposta energetica” all’interno di aree urbane, prendendo in esame, al momento, una quota di territorio utilizzato come “modulo” di studio eventualmente replicabile: tale logica considera ogni “modulo di territorio” caratterizzato dalla disponibilità di proprie risorse naturali - quali le energie rinnovabili- che si confrontano e vengono comparati , all’interno dello stesso territorio, con i consumi determinati dal complesso delle attività che vi si svolgono; si viene quindi a configurare una sequenza che da un lato considera i flussi di energia dalla natura verso la città e dalla città verso la città e dall’altro i flussi di materia e di emissioni inquinanti dalla città verso la natura. Obiettivo quindi di questo lavoro è la elaborazione di una metodologia che metta a disposizione le necessarie strumentazioni tecnico/scientifiche che consentano di valutare “in chiave energetica”, con riferimento ad un predeterminato ambito territoriale, il saldo fra le fonti potenziali di energia naturale/rinnovabile presenti ed i consumi energetici che nella stessa area si registrano a fronte delle varie forme e tipologie di insediamento

Progetto di nuova costruzione: un quartiere Age-friendly per Ladispoli

Demographic changes are acknowledged by Europe as being one of the main challenges to face in the next decades. In particular, the ageing population affects different aspects of society, involving not only health, social assistance and welfare policies but also the re-thinking of settlement systems and housing offer, essential components to face social discomfort. The book deals with the results of the three years PRACTICE Research Project, that aims at outlining the interactions between built up environments and the quality of life of the elderly population and singling out building and planning strategies for an effective integration

Introduction to the italian case studies

The first year of SoURCE research has led to the development of a methodology and a standard procedure required for sustainable management of urban areas in an energetic key, in order to promote regeneration. Within the general urban framework, it has been necessary to find an elementary unit/module of territory to which the optimization process of the relationship between the energy potentialities from renewable sources and anthropic consumptions could refer. Interventions for rationalization and restraint of energy demand, as well as the evaluation of potential capture and use of natural renewable energies, require the identification of a specific and appropriately circumscribed peculiar context. In fact, the real opportunity to draw on renewable sources of energy is conditioned by a set of constraints about orography, morphology, landscape, urban planning, etc ... Furthermore, different portions of territory may have very different climatic and geographical features