Italy lays out strategy, legislation to return to nuclear power use

Italy's government took a major step toward restarting nuclear generation in the country with the release of a bill Jan. 23 containing a two-year period for the adoption of appropriate decrees for a "sustainable" nuclear generation program.

The stated aim is to increase Italy's national energy security, which entails overturning two referendums from 1987 and 2011 that rejected nuclear power. The proposal document, seen by S&P Global Commodity Insights, intends to create a "unified law" in the next two years to launch a national nuclear power program.

The overall focus is on the longer-term, however. The legislation will aim to "develop nuclear energy to run alongside the national strategy for reaching carbon neutrality in 2050," the document said.

The country could target 8-16 GW of new nuclear capacity, covering 11%-22% of domestic demand by that date, according to government estimates.

The bill highlights the "decisive" role that small modular reactors are expected to play once they become commercially available in Europe "in the early 2030s," according to government estimates.

The country's cabinet should formally present the bill, which Italy considers a "complete break with its previous nuclear program," in the week starting Jan. 27.

Nuclear plants, with their round-the-clock power production, could be vital for decarbonizing industrial demand, potentially from heat and hydrogen production, the government said, noting that the return to nuclear power would fit in with the country's "economic, social and environmental components."

Italy is bullish about its domestic power demand in a scenario of increasing electrification of the economy and decarbonization through reduced fossil fuel use. Grid operator Terna estimated power demand would increase 30%-40% by 2040 in its latest long-term estimate, published in October.

Furthermore, Italy's power market has historically been a net importer of around 15% of its 310 TWh annual power demand, increasing the importance of new output for its security of supply.

Besides the plan for new generation, the document also proposes new legislation for nuclear fusion research and the treatment of radioactive waste during the next two years, or within the current government mandate.

Italy was a pioneer in civilian nuclear power, operating power reactors from the early 1960s until it closed all its remaining reactors in 1987 and 1990 in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in the former Soviet Union. An effort to resume nuclear power generation was rejected in a 2011 referendum.

Italy is currently in the process of assigning a new central storage site by 2029 for waste from its four second-generation reactors that were permanently shut. This waste is currently stored in temporary sites.