EU: Italy wants to return to nuclear energy, but it was banned by referendum. Plan for the development of small reactors
Share
Italy wants to create a new company to build small nuclear reactors, and officials are in preliminary talks with state-backed Ansaldo Nucleare, energy giant Enel and UK-based Newcleo to develop a plan In this regard, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter, as reported by Reuters.
The move comes after the energy minister revealed on Saturday that plans are being drawn up to enable the use of new nuclear technologies, which should be completed by early 2025.
If the Italian parliament passes the bill in 2025, it could overturn the country’s current ban on nuclear power production.
Talks about an international partner are ongoing, and no final choice has been made, Bloomberg said. Ansaldo Nucleare, Enel and Newcleo did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Nuclear fission as an energy source is a controversial topic in Italy, where nuclear power plants are banned following referendums in 1987 and 2011. However, amid the forecast increase in consumption, the authorities are considering a return to nuclear, and the Energy Minister has made it clear on Saturday that the country intends to quickly implement regulations in this regard.
“By the end of the year, (Ministry of Energy Legal Adviser Professor Giovanni) Guzzetta and his team will produce a comprehensive analysis on nuclear energy and the type of laws we need to introduce,” said Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin El and – expressed the hope that the Parliament in Rome will approve the legislative package during 2025.
Pichetto recently assigned Guzzetta to study how power plants based on new nuclear technology, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced modular reactors (AMRs), which the government believes could support its transition to green energy, would could be exempted from the ban on the development of nuclear power plants, decided by referendums.
“Italy’s electricity demand will almost double by 2050, reaching 583 TWh,” Pichetto told reporters. “Such growth cannot be met by an increase in renewable energy capacity alone.” In its energy and climate plan, Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government estimates that nuclear power could meet up to 11 percent of domestic energy demand in 2050.
Despite the ban, Italy has retained a key expertise in this sector. The utility company Enel is investing in a project to develop a nuclear fusion reactor in the United States.
“There is definitely an interest in studying the potential of third and fourth generation nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors,” Gianni Vittorio Armani, head of Enel’s grid business, said at the same conference where he also spoke minister Edison, the Italian subsidiary of the French nuclear group EDF, recently expressed interest in building a small nuclear reactor in Italy. Pichetto stated that SMRs could be introduced in Italy from 2035.
According to a study compiled by Edison, Ansaldo Nucleare and the economic think-tank The European House Ambrosetti, the adoption of new nuclear technologies in Italy could increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product by 50 billion euros.
