Italy’s Senate has approved legislation paving the way for the country to return to nuclear power, nearly four decades after it abandoned the energy source. The bill passed by 81 votes to 51, with seven abstentions, after previously receiving approval from the Chamber of Deputies.
The legislation does not authorise the construction of nuclear reactors. Instead, it establishes the regulatory framework needed before future projects can be proposed, assessed and approved. The measure gives Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government authority to prepare implementing regulations within the next 12 months.
Those regulations are expected to establish rules covering reactor approvals, safety standards, radioactive waste disposal and criteria for selecting potential future sites. The legislation therefore marks a legal and regulatory step towards nuclear power rather than an immediate decision to build new reactors.
Meloni’s government argues that rising electricity demand, climate targets and concerns over energy security justify bringing nuclear power back into Italy’s national energy mix. Rather than seeking to revive the large reactors used in the past, the government is focusing on small modular reactors, or SMRs, and other advanced technologies. Supporters of those technologies argue that they could be safer, more flexible and faster to construct.
The return to nuclear power remains politically and publicly contested. A June poll by the Demopolis institute found that 51 per cent of Italians supported resuming nuclear electricity production. However, a majority opposed the construction of a nuclear power plant near where they live, indicating a distinction between general support for nuclear generation and acceptance of a facility in local communities.
Italy abandoned nuclear power following the 1986 Chernobyl reactor disaster. Italians subsequently voted against the use of nuclear energy in two national referendums, first following the Chernobyl accident and again after the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011.
The country had previously been one of Europe’s early leaders in nuclear power and operated four reactors. Since abandoning the technology, Italy has become heavily dependent on energy imports and has emerged as one of the largest buyers of electricity generated by nuclear power stations in neighbouring countries.
The new legislation does not itself reverse those past referendum decisions by authorising reactors. Instead, it provides the government with the regulatory powers needed to establish the conditions under which future nuclear projects could be considered.
For now, the construction of new reactors remains some way off, with the government’s next step being the preparation of detailed implementing regulations over the coming year.
