Nuclear power in Italy

Garigliano

Caorso

Enrico
Fermi

Latina

Montalto

Nuclear power stations in Italy (view)
 Closed plants
 Canceled plants

Nuclear power in Italy is a controversial topic. Italy started to produce nuclear energy in early 1960s, but all plants were closed by 1990 following the Italian nuclear power referendum.

An attempt to change the decision was made in 2008 by the government (see also nuclear power debate), which called the nuclear phase-out a "terrible mistake, the cost of which totalled over €50 billion". Minister of Economic Development Claudio Scajola proposed to build as many as 10 new reactors, with the goal of increasing the nuclear share of Italy's electricity supply to about 25% by 2030. However, following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents, the Italian government put a one-year moratorium on plans to revive nuclear power. On 11—12 June 2011, Italian voters passed a referendum to cancel plans for new reactors. Over 94% of the electorate voted in favor of the construction ban, with 55% of the eligible voters participating, making the vote binding.

Plants

Name	Place	Power (MWe)	Type	Start of operation	Shutdown
Caorso	Caorso	860	BWR	1978	1990
Enrico Fermi	Trino	260	PWR	1964	1990
Garigliano	Sessa Aurunca	150	BWR	1964	1982
Latina	Latina	153	GCR (Magnox)	1963	1987

Nuclear phase-out

Italian nuclear power referendum, 1987

The Italian nuclear power referendum of November 1987 polled voters on three issues:

• abolishing the statutes by which the Inter-ministries Committee for the Economical Programming (CIPE) could decide about the locations for nuclear plants, when the Regions did not so within the time stipulated by Law 393;
• abolishing rewards for municipalities in whose territories nuclear or coal plants were to be built;
• abolishing the statutes allowing Enel to take part in international agreements to build and manage nuclear plants.

Some commenters find that the questions were actually too technical for non-experts and were used to obtain popular consent after Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

In each referendum Sì ("Yes") won. Subsequently, the Italian government decided in 1988 to phase out existing plants. This led to the termination of work on the near-complete Montalto di Castro Nuclear Power Station, and the early closure of Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant and Caorso NPP, both of which closed in 1990. Italy's other nuclear power plants had already closed prior to the decision, Latina NPP in December 1987.

Post-referendum development

Since that time, Italy became a larger importer of power, reaching approximately 10% of their electricity from nuclear-dependent France by 2007. The new policy, pursued by Silvio Berlusconi's government, of embracing nuclear power was intended to reverse this trend. An earlier agreement to become part owner of the second EPR, to be built in France, was rejected by the French, Italian utilities are investing heavily in nuclear capacity in central Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Restoration attempt

On 13 November 2007, during his speech at the World Energy Council in Rome, Italy's nuclear stance was criticized by CEO of Eni, Paolo Scaroni. In January 2008, a think tank Energy Lab started a feasibility study for construction of three or four new nuclear power plants in Italy as a part of a new debate on nuclear power in the country. The Italian general election of April 2008 saw the victory of the People of Freedom, a party which strongly supports nuclear power. Following the election victory, the new Italy's Minister for Economic Development Claudio Scajola announced the scheduling for the start of the construction of a new nuclear-powered plant by 2013.

Enel S.p.A. planned to build new reactors at one of three licensed sites: Garigliano, Latina, or Montalto di Castro. The first two had small reactors operating until 1982 and 1987. At Montalto di Castro two larger reactors were nearly completed when the country's referendum halted the construction in November 1987.

On 24 February 2009, a new agreement between France and Italy was signed, thus allowing Italy to share in France's expertise in the area of nuclear power station design. Under the agreement, a study was to be conducted to determine the feasibility of building 4 new nuclear power stations in Italy. On 9 July 2009 the Italian legislature passed an energy bill covering the establishment of a Nuclear Regulatory Agency and giving the government six months to select sites for new plants. However, the nuclear agenda of Silvio Berlusconi's government was slowed down due to the strong opposition of ten Italian regions (Basilicata, Calabria, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Marche, Molise, Apulia, Tuscany and Umbria), that challenged the energy bill passed on 9 July 2009 (the part that gives the government the responsibility for the reopening of nuclear facilities in the country) because they deemed it as unconstitutional. On 24 June 2010 the Italian Constitutional Court rejected the appeal, but the Italian Government had to approve a new version of the Legislative Decree 31/2010 on nuclear sites, in order to adapt it to the decision of the Constitutional Court. The members of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency were named by the government only on 5 November 2010 and the list sent to the Italian Parliament for approval. On 1 December 2010 a joint meeting of the Italian Parliament commissions for the Environment and for Productive Activities rejected one of the nominations putting a further stop to the Italian Government plans.

On 3 August 2009, Enel and Électricité de France established a joint venture, Sviluppo Nucleare Italia Srl, for studying the feasibility of building at least four reactors using Areva's European Pressurized Reactors.

2011 Referendum

The Italian Government put a one-year moratorium on its plans to revive nuclear power, following the 2011 Japanese nuclear accidents. A further Italian nuclear power referendum was held on 13 June 2011, leading to cancellation of future nuclear power plants planned during the previous years.

See also

• Electricity sector in Italy

External links

• Nuclear power in Italy at the WNA site.
• Nuclear power profile of Italy at the NEA site.