A day of higher training on the field that lived by the students of the course of Master’s Degree in Geophysical Sciences for Seismic Risk of the University of Messinaprotagonists of an educational visit to the Milazzo refinery. Guided by the internal representatives expert in the refining sector Stefano Robotti, Massimo Manna and Antony La Torre, the future geophysical and risk experts have been able to touch the organizational and technological complexity of a strategic industrial reality, in particular, in particular the aspects related to the safety and mitigation of seismic risk.
Accompanied by Professor Debora Presti, Professor of Geophysics and President of the Degree Course, and by the teachers Gianfranco Giorgianni (promoter of the event), Barbara Orechio and Cristina Totaro, the students visited the main production plants of the refinery and closely observed the functioning of the control room, the true operational heart of the entire system. A precious opportunity to understand how, even in the industrial field, seismic risk management represents an essential priority.
The master’s degree course recalls students from all over the world, in particular from countries with high seismic risk. During the visit, eleven nations were represented, demonstrating the international and highly interdisciplinary character of the training course offered by the Peloritano University. The aim of the course is to train highly qualified experts in evaluation and prevention of seismic risk, with skills that can be spent in the protection of ordinary construction, strategic buildings, cultural heritage, critical infrastructures and complex industrial systems.
The lessons offered by world seismic history are a constant warning. Not only are the collapses of the buildings and the seamotes represent threats, but also the disastrous consequences that earthquakes can have on refineries and nuclear power plants. In 1999 an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 affected the İzmit region, in Turkey, causing serious damage to numerous industrial plants, including the Tüpraş refinery, where a vast fire developed which produced strong environmental pollution and highlighted the vulnerability of these structures in the event of seismic events. In 2011 an earthquake of magnitude 9.1 and the subsequent tsunami affected Japan, causing the fusion of the nucleus in three reactors of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, with the consequent release of radioactive material in the environment which, in addition to producing numerous victims, made uninhabitable a large portion of the territory around the control unit. Following the same earthquake and tsunami, important fires also occurred in the refineries of Chiba and Sendai, further aggravating the emergency in the region.
