Italian government set to adopt framework law for return to nuclear energy

The Italian government intends to adopt a framework law by the end of January that would open the door to the country's return to nuclear energy. The government plans to establish an authority to oversee the operation of nuclear power plants and the management of nuclear waste. It also plans incentives for research into nuclear energy and information campaigns aimed at convincing Italians of the importance of nuclear energy. The APA news agency reported this today.

According to the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, it will take about two years to complete the legal framework for nuclear power plants. The first nuclear reactors could therefore begin operating at the start of the next decade, APA reports.

Italian Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said that „without nuclear energy, it is impossible to decarbonise electricity generation and ensure the country's energy security“. On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described nuclear power at an energy conference in Abu Dhabi as a solution enabling the production of „clean, safe and unlimited energy“.

Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso stressed the need for a „pragmatic and rational“ approach to ensuring Italy's energy independence and called for the creation of a state-owned company to produce nuclear energy.

In 1987, a year after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, Italians voted in a referendum to gradually phase out the use of nuclear energy in the country. Italy's last nuclear power plants ceased operations in 1990, APA reports.

In 2009, then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced plans to invest in nuclear power again, but later put those plans on hold. In 2011, several months after the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, about 94.5 percent of Italians voted against building new reactors in another referendum.

The possibility of returning to nuclear energy has recently sparked debate in Italy. The right-wing Italian party Lega, part of the current governing coalition, is calling for a new referendum on resuming nuclear energy production in Italy. According to the party's leader and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, this could allow Italy to return to „clean, latest-generation nuclear energy“.

However, opposition Five Star Movement MPs Ilaria Fontana and Emma Pavanelli have criticised the „enormous costs“ associated with nuclear energy. „Citizens and businesses are already spending a lot of money on energy,“ they said, according to APA. „Nuclear energy will push these costs even higher,“ they added.

The Czech Republic is now planning to build two additional units at the nuclear power plant in Dukovany, with the first expected to be completed in 2036. The supplier will be South Korean company KHNP, which the Czech government selected over France's EDF in the tender. The Czech Republic currently operates six nuclear reactors in total, four at Dukovany and two at Temelín. In the longer term, two new units are also planned at Temelín.