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Four Decades after Chernobyl, Italy Considers Nuclear Power's Return
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia /Energy & Infrastructure

Four Decades after Chernobyl, Italy Considers Nuclear Power's Return

From Asharq Al-Awsat · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Italy's government is proposing to reintroduce nuclear power, four decades after the Chernobyl disaster led the country to abandon the technology.
  • The government aims to leverage support from a new generation concerned about climate change and energy security, potentially overcoming opposition from those who remember the 1986 accident.
  • New legislation is expected to pass Parliament soon, establishing a framework for next-generation nuclear technologies like small modular reactors, with the first reactors potentially operational by 2033-2035.

Four decades after the Chernobyl disaster prompted Italy to abandon nuclear power, Premier Giorgia Meloni's government is paving the way for its return. The administration is betting on a new generation of Italians who view nuclear energy as a crucial tool for low-carbon electricity, climate change mitigation, and enhanced energy security amidst global conflicts.

The duty of the government at this moment is to create the conditions so that those who will eventually decide on installations will be able to do so.

— Gilberto Pichetto FratinMinister for the Environment and Energy Security, speaking ahead of a parliamentary vote on nuclear power legislation.

This strategic shift aims to counter the lingering concerns of Italians who experienced the 1986 disaster and twice rejected nuclear power in national referenda. Parliament is anticipated to approve legislation establishing a framework for next-generation nuclear technologies, with subsequent decrees to cover licensing, safety, waste management, and site selection within a year.

Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, stated the government's role is to "create the conditions so that those who will eventually decide on installations will be able to do so." He indicated that the first advanced reactors, focusing on safer, smaller, and faster-to-build small modular reactors (SMRs), could be operational between 2033 and 2035.

We are talking about the third advanced generation (of nuclear power), much more workable compared to what are the needs, much safer because it is small in size with very short construction times.

— Gilberto Pichetto FratinDescribing the new generation of nuclear technologies the government is considering.

Italy's potential reversal is significant, as several European nations are expanding their nuclear capacity. Unlike them, Italy must rebuild an industry it dismantled decades ago. Voters rejected nuclear power after Chernobyl in 1987 and again following Japan's Fukushima disaster in 2011, with nearly 94% opposing new reactors. The government argues that rising electricity demand, climate targets, and energy security concerns, particularly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, necessitate nuclear power's inclusion in Italy's energy mix.

When people ask me for a timeline, I say 2033, 2034, 2035.

— Gilberto Pichetto FratinReferring to the potential timeline for the first next-generation reactors to begin operating.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Asharq Al-Awsat in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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