Will Italy Lift the Ban on Nuclear Technologies?
Italy Plans to Develop Nuclear Energy Regulations by Early 2025. Italy plans to introduce regulations allowing the use of new nuclear energy technologies by early 2025, as announced by Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin on September 7. This signals a departure from the current ban on nuclear power generation in the country.
By the end of the year, the ministry’s legal advisor, Professor Giovanni Guzzetta, and his team are expected to prepare a comprehensive analysis on nuclear energy, along with the necessary legislative actions. The energy minister hopes that the Italian parliament will pass the bill by 2025.
The return to nuclear energy is a highly controversial topic in Italy, as nuclear power was banned after referendums in 1987 and 2011. Professor Guzzetta will examine how nuclear plants based on modern technologies, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced modular reactors (AMRs), could potentially be exempt from the ban, as the government believes these technologies could support the green energy transition.
“Italy’s electricity demand will nearly double by 2050,” Fratin said during a press conference. “Such an increase cannot be met solely by expanding renewable energy sources,” he added. In its energy and climate plan, the right-wing government of Giorgia Meloni estimates that nuclear energy could meet up to 11% of the country’s energy needs by 2050.
First SMRs by 2035
Despite the ban within its borders, Italy has maintained key competencies in the nuclear energy sector through activities in other regions. The state-owned energy company Enel (Ente Nazionale per l’Energia Elettrica) operates nuclear plants in Spain, and Eni Energy Company is investing in a thermonuclear reactor project in the United States. “There is certainly interest in exploring the potential of third and fourth-generation nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors,” said Gianni Vittorio Armani, head of Enel’s network division, during the same conference.
Italian utility Edison (EDNn.MI), a subsidiary of the French nuclear group EDF, has already shown interest in building the first small nuclear reactor in Italy. The energy minister believes that SMRs could be introduced in Italy as early as 2035, and the implementation of new nuclear technologies could inject over 50 billion euros into the national economy.
Source: reuters.com