Italy Divided Over Nuclear Power's Return After 30 Years

Thirty years after Italians voted to ban nuclear power, the country's Chamber of Deputies has approved a bill paving the way for its return. This decision has divided former proponents of the 1987 referendums, which were held in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster.

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There is a need to decarbonize energy production. To achieve this goal, nuclear power plants are also needed; whoever says otherwise is a hypocrite.

Chicco Testa, a former promoter of the anti-nuclear referendums, now advocates for nuclear energy as essential for decarbonization. He argues that while renewables are important, they do not provide the necessary energy security for Italy. Testa criticizes those who oppose nuclear power as hypocritical and calls for bipartisan solutions to overcome obstacles to building new plants.

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The bill approved by the Chamber? Frankly, it has a propagandistic air.

However, other prominent figures from the original anti-nuclear movement, such as Ermete Realacci and Edo Ronchi, remain opposed. Realacci dismisses the approved bill as mere propaganda, pointing to China's significant investment in renewables and arguing that nuclear power is too expensive and its advanced reactors are not yet viable. Ronchi echoes these concerns, calling the push for nuclear a "ideological manifesto" with no concrete plan, questioning the locations and funding for potential new reactors.

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Nuclear power has excessive costs and will realistically be able to produce energy starting from the 2040s. The mythical fourth-generation reactor does not actually exist.