"L'Italia non se ne può chiamare fuori - aggiunge Salvini - Conto che entro il 2023 questo governo abbia la forza di spiegare agli italiani perché, nel nome della neutralità tecnologica, non possiamo dire di no a nessuna fonte energetica".

Italy Discusses Return To Nuclear Power

04/09/2023
2 minutes

Italy is considering the possibility of including nuclear energy in the energy mix, as stated by Minister for the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin during the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio.

“I have signed an appeal for establishing a Sustainable Nuclear Energy Platform. This is not a choice in favor of building power plants, but a choice to clarify what should be the state’s commitment to research, experimentation, and implementation of the knowledge that we already have in the nuclear industry, which includes many government officials who have preserved this knowledge, starting with ENEA and our major companies,” Piketto Fratin explained.

Italy had four nuclear power plants built in the 1960s and 1970s, in the cities of Latina, Grigliano, Trino, and Caorso, which were decommissioned after the 1987 referendum held following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. The Berlusconi government in 2008 announced the resumption of the nuclear program, which was later canceled by a new referendum in 2011 (a few months after the Fukushima disaster).

“We are one of the few countries in the world that said no, but I believe that Italy should resume its participation in nuclear energy within this year,” Minister Pichetto Fratin explained. He was supported by the Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini. “Italy cannot be excluded from this process,” he stated. “I expect that in 2023 the government will have the strength to explain to the Italians why, in the name of technological neutrality, we cannot say no to any source of energy.”