Development of advanced tools and methods for the assessment and management of risk due to atypical major accident scenarios

Proper hazard identification has become progressively more difficult to achieve, as witnessed by several major accidents that took place in Europe, such as the Ammonium Nitrate explosion at Toulouse (2001) and the vapour cloud explosion at Buncefield (2005), whose accident scenarios were not considered by their site safety case. Furthermore, the rapid renewal in the industrial technology has brought about the need to upgrade hazard identification methodologies. Accident scenarios of emerging technologies, which are not still properly identified, may remain unidentified until they take place for the first time. The consideration of atypical scenarios deviating from normal expectations of unwanted events or worst case reference scenarios is thus extremely challenging. A specific method named Dynamic Procedure for Atypical Scenarios Identification (DyPASI) was developed as a complementary tool to bow-tie identification techniques. The main aim of the methodology is to provide an easier but comprehensive hazard identification of the industrial process analysed, by systematizing information from early signals of risk related to past events, near misses and inherent studies. DyPASI was validated on the two examples of new and emerging technologies: Liquefied Natural Gas regasification and Carbon Capture and Storage. The study broadened the knowledge on the related emerging risks and, at the same time, demonstrated that DyPASI is a valuable tool to obtain a complete and updated overview of potential hazards. Moreover, in order to tackle underlying accident causes of atypical events, three methods for the development of early warning indicators were assessed: the Resilience-based Early Warning Indicator (REWI) method, the Dual Assurance method and the Emerging Risk Key Performance Indicator method. REWI was found to be the most complementary and effective of the three, demonstrating that its synergy with DyPASI would be an adequate strategy to improve hazard identification methodologies towards the capture of atypical accident scenarios.

Assessing the state of Nephrops norvegicus and management measures in the Central Adriatic Sea

Nephrops norvegicus is a sedentary bottom-dwelling crustacean that represents one of the main commercial species exploited in the Adriatic Sea (Central Mediterranean). An evaluation of the status of this important resource is thus extremely important in order to manage it in a sustainable way. The evaluation of N. norvegicus is complicated by several issues, mainly: (i) the complex biology and behaviour of the species itself, (ii) the presence of subpopulations with different biological traits within the same stock unit. Relevant concentration of N.norvegicus occurs within the Pomo/Jabuka Pits area which is characterised by peculiar oceanographic and geophysical conditions. This area represented for a long time an important fishing ground shared by Italian and Croatian fleets and recently a Fishery Restricted Area (FRA) was established there. The aim of the present study is to perform for the first time an evaluation of the status of the N.norvegicus subpopulation inhabiting the Pomo/Jabuka Pits also accounting for the possible effects on it of the management measures. To achieve this, the principal fisheryindependent and fishery-dependent dataset available for the study area were firstly analysed and then treated. Data collected by the CNR-IRBIM of Ancona through both indirect (“UWTV”) and direct (trawling) methods were refined by means of a revision of the time series and related biases, and a modelling approach accounting for environmental and fishery effects, respectively. Commercial data for both Italy and Croatia were treated in order to obtain landings and length distributions for the Pomo area only; an historical reconstruction of data starting from 1970 was carried out for both countries. The obtained information was used as input for a Bayesian length-based stock assessment model developed through the CASAL software; the flexibility of this model is recommended for N.norvegicus and similar species allowing to deal with sex- and fleet-based integrated assessment method

Characterization and management of particular classes of waste at a regional level. case study: Marche region

There are various methods to analyse waste, which differ from each other according to the level of detail of the compositio. Waste composed by plastic and used for packaging, for example, can be classified by chemical composition of the polymer used for the specific product. At a more basal level, before dividing a waste according to the specific chemical material of which it is composed it is possible and also important to classify it according to the material category. So, if the secondary aim is to consider the particular polymer that constitutes a plastic waste, or what kind of natural polymer composes a specific waste made of wood, the first aim is to classify the product category of the material that makes up the waste, so, if it is wood made, or plastic, or glass made or metal, or organic. There are not specific instruments to make this subdivision, not specific chemical tests, but only a manual recognition of the material that makes up the product or waste. The first steps of this study is a recognition of the materials of which the waste is composed, the second is a the quantification of differentiated and unsorted waste produced in the area under study, the third is a mass balance of the portions of waste sent for recovery in order to obtain information on quantities that can be effectively recovered and ready for new life cycle as raw material; the fourth and last step is an environmental assessment that provides information on the environmental cost of the recovery process. This process scheme is applied to various specific kinds of waste from separate collection generated in a specific area with the aim to find a model analysis appliable to other portions of territory in order to improve knowledge of recovery technologies.

Stream sediments analysis for geochemical mapping of Romagna Apennines (Northern Italy): monitoring and management tool of environmental resources at various scales

Geochemical mapping is a valuable tool for the control of territory that can be used not only in the identification of mineral resources and geological, agricultural and forestry studies but also in the monitoring of natural resources by giving solutions to environmental and economic problems. Stream sediments are widely used in the sampling campaigns carried out by the world's governments and research groups for their characteristics of broad representativeness of rocks and soils, for ease of sampling and for the possibility to conduct very detailed sampling In this context, the environmental role of stream sediments provides a good basis for the implementation of environmental management measures, in fact the composition of river sediments is an important factor in understanding the complex dynamics that develop within catchment basins therefore they represent a critical environmental compartment: they can persistently incorporate pollutants after a process of contamination and release into the biosphere if the environmental conditions change. It is essential to determine whether the concentrations of certain elements, in particular heavy metals, can be the result of natural erosion of rocks containing high concentrations of specific elements or are generated as residues of human activities related to a certain study area. This PhD thesis aims to extract from an extensive database on stream sediments of the Romagna rivers the widest spectrum of informations. The study involved low and high order stream in the mountain and hilly area, but also the sediments of the floodplain area, where intensive agriculture is active. The geochemical signals recorded by the stream sediments will be interpreted in order to reconstruct the natural variability related to bedrock and soil contribution, the effects of the river dynamics, the anomalous sites, and with the calculation of background values be able to evaluate their level of degradation and predict the environmental risk.