The Italian government will establish a new corporation to develop small module nuclear power plants (SMR).
According to Italy’s ANSA news agency and Bloomberg on the 8th (local time), Italy’s Minister of Industry Adolfo Urso attended an economic forum and said, “In the near future, advanced nuclear power generation will be possible in Italy.”
SMR is a next-generation nuclear power plant that compensates for the shortcomings of existing large-scale nuclear power plants, such as the possibility of factory production of nuclear power modules and high safety. Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources, that the Italian government is in initial negotiations with Italian power plant manufacturer Ansaldo Nucrea, largest power company Enel, and British nuclear technology company Nucleo to develop SMR. “It is expected to bring about a major change in Italy, which has banned nuclear energy for decades,” the news agency said.
Ansaldo Nucleare is a subsidiary of Ansaldo Energia, an Italian power plant manufacturer. It has mainly developed technology related to nuclear power plants. Enel is Italy’s largest power company. Nucleo develops small reactors powered by reprocessing fuels.
As Italy formalized its SMR development, it effectively abolished its policy to dismantle its nuclear power plant in 35 years. Italy, which once had the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, suspended the operation of four nuclear power plants after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine, and decided to dismantle its nuclear power plant in the following year after a referendum. It shut down its last nuclear reactor in 1990.
Under Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the government sought to reintroduce nuclear power plants in 2010, but the plan fell through as more than 90 percent of the respondents voted against it in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. However, after the war in Ukraine, there have been growing calls for the reintroduction of nuclear power plants to ensure energy security.
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
