France’s Le Figaro reports today, May 22, that the Italian government has opted to build a new group of nuclear power plants. Following Chernobyl, Italians voted in a national referendum to close their existing reactors, and so if the country follows through on the government’s new commitment, it will be not merely a matter of adding reactors but of initiating an all-new nuclear program.
Italy is highly dependent on natural gas, which it obtains in large quantities from Russia and states in the Russian sphere of influence. Its development minister said it had no choice now but to re-embrace the atom, given nuclear’s economic and environmental advantages.
