The company initially took over the Caorso, Enrico Fermi, Garigliano and Latina nuclear power plants, later adding other sites including ENEA's EUREX.

The company has been involved in environmental remediation, radioactive waste management and nuclear safety work in Armenia, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, France, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.

[2] SOGIN was created on 1 November 1999 and took ownership of the closed Caorso, Enrico Fermi, Garigliano, Latina nuclear power plants from the state-owned electricity company, ENEL.

79, the so-called Bersani decree of 16 March 1999, which marked the beginning of the liberalization of the Italian electricity sector, it was decided to split the group.

In 2005, SOGIN acquired the nuclear enrichment plant at Bosco Marengo,[6] and, in 2012, the company started a three-year programme to decontaminate the boxes that had been used to store plutonium-contaminated gloves up to 1986.

[9] SOGIN is responsible for decommissioning four nuclear power plants, located in Caorso, Garigliano, Latina and Trino, as well as the operations in Bosco Marengo, Casaccia, Rotondella and Saluggia.

[28] The repository was to be hosted in a technology park that also contained research labs which would bring economic benefits to the community, as well as direct payment of compensation administered by SOGIN.

When the first site chosen, the salt mines of Scanzano Jonico, was announced in November 2003, it led to an unprecedented outcry with over 150,000 demonstrating against the decision with residents blocking roads and shutting down businesses.

[30] Subsequent changes in national legislation have been put in place in an attempt to ensure that any future site can only be agreed by the Council of Ministers after review by a panel of scientists.

[32] However, continued controversy and the lack of progress finding a site has meant that, instead, waste is mainly stored in untreated form at the nuclear facilities themselves.

The company has undertaken projects at Metsamor in Armenia, Belene and Kozloduy in Bulgaria, Dukovany and Temelin in the Czech Republic, Phénix in France, Aktau in Kazakhstan, Ignalina in Lithuania, Cernavodă in Romania, Beloyarsk, Bilibino, Kalinin and Kola in Russia, Bohunice and Mochovce in Slovakia and Khmelnytskyi and Rivne in Ukraine.

[38][39] SOGIN has been actively involved in the G8 Glocal Partnership programme, launched at the 2002 G8 summit in Kananaskis, to support and accelerate Russia's nuclear disarmament.

The contract opened the door to the companies sharing expertise on nuclear decommissioning and collaborating on policies and strategies to manage radioactive waste and used fuel in China.