{"id":2102,"date":"2026-07-28T06:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2102"},"modified":"2026-07-28T06:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:08:14","slug":"four-decades-after-chernobyl-a-generational-divide-reshapes-italys-nuclear-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=2102","title":{"rendered":"Four decades after Chernobyl, a generational divide reshapes Italy\u2019s nuclear debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ROME (AP) \u2014 Four decades after the Chernobyl disaster<\/span> spewed radiation across Europe and turned Italy off nuclear power, Premier Giorgia Meloni<\/span> \u2019s government is laying the groundwork to bring it back as the country seeks to improve its energy security.<\/p>\n

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The government is counting on a new generation of Italians who see nuclear power as a source of low-carbon electricity, a tool to help fight climate change and a way to strengthen stable energy supplies amid shocks from the Ukraine<\/span> and Iran<\/span> wars.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s betting that such support will blunt the opinions of Italians who lived through the 1986 nuclear accident, still view atomic energy through the lens of risk and disaster, and twice rejected nuclear power in national referenda, experts say.<\/p>\n

Next week, Parliament is expected to approve government-sponsored legislation establishing a legal framework for next-generation nuclear technologies. The government would then have 12 months to draft implementing decrees covering reactor licensing, safety standards, waste management and siting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe duty of the government at this moment is to create the conditions so that those who will eventually decide on installations will be able to do so,\u201d Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, minister for the Environment and Energy Security, told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n

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A reversal of positions after Ukraine<\/h2>\n

Italy\u2019s debate comes as several European countries, including France<\/span> and Poland, expand or pursue nuclear power<\/span> amid concerns about energy security and climate goals. Unlike them, however, Italy is trying to rebuild an industry voters dismantled decades ago.<\/p>\n

Italy was once among Europe\u2019s nuclear pioneers. Four reactors operated until a 1987 referendum effectively ended the country\u2019s nuclear program in the aftermath of Chernobyl. Another attempt to revive nuclear power collapsed after Japan\u2019s Fukushima disaster<\/span> in 2011, when about 94% of voters opposed plans for new reactors.<\/p>\n

As a result, Italy\u2019s shift would mark one of Europe\u2019s most ambitious energy reversals.<\/p>\n

Meloni\u2019s government argues that rising electricity demand, climate goals and energy-security concerns following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine<\/span> justify bringing nuclear power back into Italy\u2019s energy mix.<\/p>\n

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Pichetto Fratin said electricity demand could increase by at least 30% within about a decade, requiring a broader mix of energy sources than renewables alone.<\/p>\n

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Rather than reviving the large plants of the past, the government is focusing on small modular reactors, or SMRs, and other advanced technologies that supporters say could be safer, more flexible and faster to build.<\/p>\n

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