Nuclear energy, to reduce costs - Italy will build small reactors to strengthen energy security
Italy is moving towards reactivating nuclear power plants to meet domestic needs, due to the sharp increase in energy costs, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine.
As part of these moves, US energy group Westinghouse has proposed using existing nuclear facilities to house small modular reactors, with the aim of starting their construction by 2030.
This proposal comes after the Italian government has signaled that by the end of 2027 it wants to complete research that will allow the resumption of nuclear energy production in the country after an almost 40-year ban.
As reported a few days ago by the Italian Minister of Energy, Gilberto Picetto Frattin, the country is ready to bring back nuclear power as a major option in its energy strategy. He also stated that the shift towards nuclear power signals a complementary approach to renewable energy sources and is not an attempt to replace them.
Italy was once a pioneer in nuclear power, with four commercial nuclear power plants, which provided 5% of the country's electricity production in 1986-1987.
But Rome turned its back on nuclear power after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and again in 2011 after the accident at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. In 1990 it closed the last reactors at Caorso and Enrico Fermi.
In addition to Westinghouse's proposal, Edison, the Italian arm of French group EDF, plans to build two advanced nuclear reactors in Italy by 2040.
The first unit is scheduled to be completed by 2035 and the second by 2040. The first small modular reactor technologies will be available by the end of this decade and will undergo testing in the early 2030s.
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