This is how the Meloni government reopens nuclear power plants in Italy

Luke Romano Science Communicator July 21, 2024 05:00 Share The Senate …

Referendum on nuclear power, Italians ahead of politicians












The Senate Environment Committee has begun discussing the bill for the reintroduction of nuclear power in Italy. Although there is still a lot of confusion about the status and role of the various nuclear technologies, this time the person who wrote it has at least included some concrete and important steps for the return of nuclear power to our country. The first and important premise to make is that this is a delegation law: the provisions that will make the law effective will therefore have to be adopted by the government.


What’s OK and What’s Not in Italy’s Nuclear Law


Article 1 states the purposes of the bill, namely the preparation of measures that allow the resumption of nuclear energy production in Italy, the preparation of adequate safety regulations for the prevention of accidents and the protection of workers’ health and the preparation of programs for the protection and restoration of the environment. Article 2 is the most confusing and poorly written, and again highlights that those who deal with these things at a political level do so without adequate expertise.


The bill in fact obliges the Minister of the Environment, within 12 months of the law coming into force, to integrate the PNIEC with a forecast of energy mix that includes a share of “new generation nuclear” without specifying which one.


The objectives of this inclusion would be threefold:


  1. promote research on advanced fission and fusion, including through the construction of experimental plants, which could be done anyway without additions to the PNIEC);
  2. promote Italian participation in nuclear fusion research programs, with an increase in research funding (again, it is not clear what the PNIEC has to do with it);
  3. to build “new generation” energy production plants (Which one?) on the national territory, both from fission and fusion.


It goes without saying that things written like this have no meaning: first of all because the plants for the production of electrical energy from fusion, if all goes well, will be seen in 2040, and then because the term “new generation” for fission can be conveniently used to avoid taking responsibility for the technologies currently on the market, and delegate everything to the future.


The Meloni government’s blunders


Article 3 provides for the establishment of the Independent Authority for Nuclear Energy, i.e. the technical-political body that should deal with the licensing and certification procedures, the establishment of the regulatory framework and supervision. This is a truly concrete and important step. The DDL also specifies the non-partisan nature of the authority, the nomination process and specifies some requirements for members (such as not having worked or collaborated with companies in the nuclear sector, to avoid conflicts of interest, and not holding other managerial positions, either in the public or private sector).


Article 4 instead establishes the National Agency for Nuclear Safety, according to the IAEA recommendations, for the evaluation of the current state of Italian infrastructure and the identification of the steps to be taken to arrive as soon as possible at the construction of new plants. The new Agency would absorb the current ISIN (Nuclear Safety Inspectorate), whose functions and personnel would be transferred to the new body. An error in the DDL (but it is a technicality that I suppose will be fixed during the work) is to attribute to the Independent Authority the supervisory functions, which instead would be proper to the National Agency for Nuclear Safety (since today it is ISIN’s responsibility).


Where the new nuclear power plants will be built


Article 5 finally gives the minister the task of identifying suitable sites for the construction of nuclear power plants. The list of potential sites must be approved by the Council of Ministers and the favorable opinion of the presidents of the regions involved is also required (it may be laughable, but I think some available regions will be found). This point is fundamental because siting is the first step that must be certified at an international level for the construction of a nuclear plant. If siting is approved and certified, it is a fixed point from which future governments can start again if they want to continue the enterprise of bringing Italy back to the atom.


The national repository for radioactive waste


Article 6 indicates the requirements for the application for the construction and operation of nuclear plants. Obviously, it is a long list of documents including environmental impact assessments, financial guarantees, technical sheets, bureaucratic obligations, etc. Article 7 obliges the minister, one year from the date of approval of the delegated law, to identify the site for the construction of the National Radioactive Waste Repository. Considering that the discussion of the bill will take months and that in less than a year the casks with irradiated fuel from our old plants will return to Italy, it would be desirable for the minister to act well before this deadline.


Finally, Article 8 establishes that the Ministry, in agreement with the Ministry of Made in Italy, will have to establish compensation measures for the municipalities that will host the plants.


If this bill were to be approved in its current form, there would still be a lot to do before we could see nuclear reactor construction sites open in Italy. But there would also be some fixed points from which to start for everything that comes after. For once, I feel like judging positively the work of the politicians who wrote this initial draft.