Thirty-five years after shutting down its last nuclear power station, Italy is planning to restart its nuclear industry with small modular reactors (SMRs), the Financial Times reports.
Energy minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin told the FT that Rome planned to introduce legislation to enable investments in SMRs, which could be operational within 10 years.
In the past, Italy had four nuclear power stations, of which two were still in service when the 1986 Chernobyl disaster prompted their closure.
Governments have since looked to reverse the nuclear ban.
In the 2000s, Silvio Berlusconi’s government planned to have 25% of electricity supplied by nuclear power by 2030, but it was rejected by an overwhelming majority in a 2011 referendum.
The latest goal is to have at least 11% of the country’s power supplied by domestic nuclear plants by 2050, thereby reducing Italy’s reliance on imported fuel.
“To have a guarantee of continuity on clean energy, we must insert a quota of nuclear energy,” said Pichetto Fratin, arguing that solar and wind would not be enough to guarantee the country always had adequate supplies.
In a survey commissioned by environmental group Legambiente, 75% of 1,000 respondents expressed scepticism that nuclear power was a solution to Italy’s energy problems. However, 37% said nuclear power could help if the technology was safer.
Pichetto Fratin said he was confident that Italians’ aversion to nuclear power could be overcome once people were aware of how the technology had developed.
In 2022, coal, oil and natural gas made up 81% of Italy’s energy mix, with wind and solar accounting for just 7%.
Italy has been sceptical about wind and solar, partly because of the land they require.
The emerging technology of SMRs is particularly attractive given the relatively small footprint of a power station based on them.
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