Italy's Nuclear Future to be Determined by Voter Referendum

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On January 13, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled to allow a referendum on the government's plan to reincorporate nuclear energy to the Italian power matrix after 24 years. According to the court, the construction of nuclear power plants in Italy will be possible only if legislative modifications made since 2008 that permit nuclear facilities in the country are approved by a referendum, which is to be held between April 15 and June 15.

The referendum is in response to an initiative of opposition leader Antonio Di Pietro from the "Italia dei Valori" political party. The Italian nuclear project aims to make nuclear power the source for one-fourth of the country's generation mix. The first steps toward this scope were made in February 2009, when Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) (Rome) and Electricite de France S.A. (EPA:EDF) (EDF) (Paris, France), the major Italian and French utilities, respectively, signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of at least four 1,600-megawatt (MW), advanced third-generation European pressurized reactors (EPR) reactors in Italy. For more information, view March 2, 2009, article - EDF and Enel Plan Four Nuclear Power Plants in Italy.

Later that year, the Italian senate passed a law revoking a 1987decision made by referendum to eradicate nuclear energy production in the country, following the Chernobyl disaster. For more information, view July 13, 2009, article - Italian Senate Approves Law Allowing Return of Nuclear Power.

Further steps were taken with the creation of Sviluppo Nucleare Italiano Srl, a 50:50 joint venture between Enel and EDF, which is in charge of feasibility studies, environmental impact studies, a market survey and the qualification process to evaluate state-of-art Italian power firms. For more information, view August 6, 2009, article - Enel-EDF Joint Venture Sets Foundation for Relaunch of Italian Nuclear Power Program, and from April 27, 2010, article - ENEL and EDF Move Toward First Biddings for Nuclear Projects in Italy.

Another milestone was the recent (and very delayed) assignation to office of Umberto Veronesi as chairman of the Agenzia per la Sicurezza Nucleare (Nuclear Safety Agency), a government entity that will be in charge of safety and environmental control and which will be responsible for the determination of the criteria for the selection of the sites for the future facilities. If the results of the coming referendum are favorable to the government's plan, Enel expects to break ground for the first reactor's foundations in 2015 in order to connect it to the grid by 2020.

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