Italian Senate approves return to nuclear power, EDF targets first reactor in 2035

Italy’s Senate has given final approval to an enabling law on nuclear energy. Giorgia Meloni’s government now has a year to prepare the implementing regulations. According to the minister, the first reactors could be built in 2033 to 2034, while the EDF group and its Italian partners are targeting 2035. Critics question the costs and timeline, calling the law an election campaign ploy.

Since the 1960s, Italy operated four nuclear reactors with a total installed capacity of 1 423 megawatts electric, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It shut down the last two after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. An attempt to return to nuclear power in the new millennium was halted in 2011 by the Fukushima accident and a referendum in which 94% of voters rejected new construction.

A 2021 opinion poll showed that around a third of Italians were in favour of reconsidering the use of nuclear energy. At the same time, more than half of respondents did not rule out the future use of new advanced nuclear technologies.

Italy’s Council of Ministers, the collective body of the executive, approved a bill last February giving the government the authority to prepare rules for a return to nuclear energy. After passing the Chamber of Deputies, bill No. 1924, entitled Government enabling act on sustainable nuclear energy, also passed the upper house of parliament on 23 September. Of the 140 senators present, 81 voted in favour, 51 against and seven abstained.

Government has 12 months to establish a regulatory framework

The law explicitly provides for small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced modular reactors (AMRs). Its approval alone, however, does not authorise the construction of new nuclear power facilities. The government has twelve months from the law’s entry into force to establish the necessary regulatory framework, through implementing decrees.

“Today, Italy is taking a step towards the future: approval of the delegation of authority to the government for a new sustainable nuclear system completes a journey that began three years ago and focuses on exploring the potential of this new, clean and sustainable technology. Nuclear energy is not a return to the past: it is a winning technology that, combined with renewables, can deliver extraordinary results for our energy security as we move towards neutrality by 2050,” said Gilberto Pichetto, Minister of the Environment and Energy Security.

The newly approved legislation leaves the government with a range of tasks. It must draw up a National Programme for the Development of Energy Production from Nuclear Fission and Fusion. It will also set rules for the testing, siting, construction and operation of new nuclear facilities. The enabling act also covers the decommissioning and dismantling of existing nuclear facilities from the past. It also addresses the management of nuclear fuel, the storage and final disposal of radioactive waste and spent fuel. The government must also revise the rules on nuclear safety, supervision and control. Finally, the law requires the government to strengthen scientific and industrial research and the training of new specialists.

High energy prices put pressure on Italian industry

As in many other European countries, industry there is grappling with high electricity prices. It has therefore long urged the government to take action and called for thousands of renewable energy projects to be unblocked and the country’s dependence on expensive gas to be reduced. Over the past two years, gas-fired power plants reliant on imported supplies have generated almost half of the country’s electricity.

Domestic and foreign companies interested in SMRs

According to information reported by World Nuclear News, several plans for small modular and advanced reactor projects are already taking shape in Italy. On the day of the vote, French group EDF, its subsidiaries Nuward and Edison, and Italian companies Ansaldo and Maire announced their interest in the Italian market. Together, they declared their aim of bringing Italy’s first SMR online by 2035.

Nuward previously announced plans to build ten reactors in five EU countries, with construction starting in 2030. The company added on LinkedIn that the project would give Italian industry a pathway into the European SMR supply chain. France’s Newcleo is also active in Italy, where it is developing lead-cooled fast reactors. It has built its first non-nuclear prototype there and last year began initial work to assess the use of its technologies in cement plants.

A distraction, opposition says

Italy’s main national news agency ANSA reported objections from opposition parties. They say the move is a political tool to divert attention from high energy prices and a product of the election campaign. Italy is due to hold parliamentary elections next year. Critics also question the technical and economic feasibility of the government’s plan.

“After four and a half years in government, with Italy facing some of the highest energy costs in Europe, Meloni is pulling SMRs out of a hat. It is a technology with no commercial applications anywhere in the world today. It is a tool to cover up the incompetence of a government that has curtailed renewables and favoured large energy companies and their profits,” said Angelo Bonelli, a member of parliament for the Green and Left Alliance.

There is also scepticism about the timeline. The Minister of the Environment and Energy Security estimates that the first units could be operating as early as 2033 to 2034. According to the Italian magazine Materia Rinnovabile, the minister’s estimate is highly ambitious. It notes, among other things, that the government’s climate and energy plan envisages SMR capacity coming online only from 2035. The reactors are expected to supply between 11 and 22% of national electricity consumption by 2050.