The Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants to present a roadmap within seven months for the possible return to the use of nuclear energy in Italy. The roadmap will include guidelines outlining possible resources, measures, investments and timelines for a return to nuclear energy, the government said.
“Italy must not waste time. There must be a clear objective to return to the production of clean and safe energy using new generation nuclear technology in the coming years”, said Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini. According to Salvini, Italy could consider “innovative nuclear technology such as small modular reactors (SMR) and fourth-generation AMR reactors.”
Italians voted in a referendum in 1987 – a year after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster – to phase out nuclear power. The last nuclear plants were closed in 1990. In 2009, then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced that he would return to nuclear energy, but suspended his plan after the Fukushima disaster. In 2011, around 94.5 percent demonstrated against the construction of new nuclear power plants in another referendum.