Italy on a nuclear path: by summer a legal framework for the return to nuclear energy is being adopted.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed in the Senate that her government is rapidly preparing a legal framework that will enable the reintroduction of nuclear energy into the national energy mix, according to WNN. According to her, the key "enabling law" will be passed by summer, thereby ending decades of nuclear stagnation in Italy.

Meloni noted that the complex economic environment and geopolitical tensions directly affected energy costs and the competitiveness of Italian businesses. "In these challenging times there should be less room for controversy and more for concrete discussion on strategic issues," the prime minister said, emphasizing that nuclear energy is a pillar of this new strategy.

What does the new law bring?

The government has been given a mandate to comprehensively regulate the introduction of "sustainable" nuclear energy within the framework of European decarbonization targets by 2050. The plan includes a national program for sustainable nuclear energy, i.e., defining a clear time frame and technological path; an independent regulatory body and the establishment of the Nuclear Safety Authority; strengthening research and skills and focusing on the scientific and industrial sectors, as well as on developing new expert knowledge; as well as information campaigns and efforts to raise public awareness in order to avoid failures of the past.

Historically, Italy operated four nuclear power plants, but shut them down after a referendum following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The second attempt to return in 2011 was halted by Fukushima. However, public sentiment is changing and more recent studies show that more than half of Italians do not rule out the use of new, advanced nuclear technologies.