Italy very close to the return of nuclear energy: the lower house of Parliament gives the green light.

Lower House of the Italian Parliament (Chamber of Deputies) has approved the government's bill of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, thereby opening a historic path for Italy's return to using nuclear energy. The law was passed with 155 votes in favor, 86 against and 8 abstentions

This legislative proposal, which the Council of Ministers initially approved in October last year, transfers authority to the government to comprehensively regulate the introduction of “sustainable” nuclear energy within the European policy of decarbonization by 2050 and energy security goals. The government mandate includes the development of the National Program for Sustainable Nuclear Energy, the establishment of an independent Agency for Nuclear Safety, strengthening scientific and industrial research, development of new professional skills, as well as carrying out information campaigns to raise public awareness.

The law now goes to vote in the upper house of Parliament (Senate), where the government expects final approval before the summer break at the end of July. After the law comes into force, the executive regulations must be adopted within 12 months.

S.A.

Background: three decades of anti-nuclear policies

Italy has operated a total of four nuclear power plants since the early 1960s. However, after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, citizens decided in a referendum to abandon this form of energy, which resulted in the closing of the last two operational units (Caorso and Trino Vercellese) in 1990.

A new attempt to revive the nuclear program was halted in March 2011, when after the Fukushima disaster the Italian government declared a moratorium of at least one year on the construction of new power plants. In a referendum held in June of that year, as many as 94% of those who voted rejected plans to build new reactors.

Radical shift in public opinion

But in the last few years there has been a dramatic turnaround in the stance of the Italian public toward nuclear energy. In May 2023, the Parliament approved a proposal calling on the government to consider including nuclear energy in the national energy mix.

Already in September of the same year the first meeting of the National Platform for Sustainable Nuclear Energy was held, a body established by the government with the aim of defining a timeframe for a potential return to the nuclear program and identifying economic opportunities for the domestic industrial chain already operating in this sector on the global market.

S.A.