Italy to Revive Nuclear Power After Shutting Down Last Atomic Plant 35 Years Ago

Italy is planning to revive nuclear energy after a 35-year-long hiatus, according to Italian energy minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, who revealed fresh details of the plan to The Financial Times on July 14, a little over a week after he told a conference in Milan that an evaluation process had been launched on the renewed role of nuclear power in the country’s energy mix. Nuclear energy is a controversial issue in Italy, which shut down its last atomic plant 35 years ago and where Italians voted in a 2011 referendum against reviving a national nuclear program after Japan’s Fukushima disaster. Mr. Fratin offered hints about Italy’s possible revival of nuclear power at an event in late April ahead of the G7 energy meeting in Turin, Italy, saying that the reintroduction of atomic plants would help Italy reach energy independence and help it transition away from fossil fuels....