Italy Rethinks Nuclear Power, Edison Prepares 4 Billion

By the end of 2024, there will be a bill “that will contain the basic legislation for nuclear power and where the regulatory authorities will be provided for.” Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin announced that this would effectively mark Italy’s return to nuclear power.

“We are a country that has experience and knowledge. I believe that the conditions exist for the emergence of a national nuclear player. This is the challenge that awaits us in the future,” the minister also said at the meeting in Cernobbio.

Italy has twice rejected nuclear power generation on its territory in two referendums, in 1987 and 2011, following the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, which occurred a year and two months before the consultations, respectively.

But since 2022, geopolitical crises “have shown that Italy does not have an adequate energy mix.” One-third of energy in Italy comes from renewable sources, two-thirds from fossil sources.

And power company Edison, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, is ready to build two new small modular reactor plants if nuclear power is given the green light. Two projects worth €2 billion each. CEO Nicola Monti explained this during the European House Ambrosetti forum in Cernobbio: “Edison has already taken some concrete steps to be ready should such conditions arise,” explained Monti.