Nuclear, municipalities can apply. Push for supply chains

The self-appointment of municipalities to host national repositories for radioactive waste is just one of the new amendments included in the nuclear bill. The Environmental and Productive Activities Committees of the Camera concluded yesterday the vote on the amendments to the text of the bill presented by the government with the aim of approving the delegation law before the summer break.

Almost 40 years have passed since the 1987 abrogative referendum. At that time, Italians also voted on nuclear power, opting to abandon atomic energy. The date at the ballot box, by the way, was a year after the Chernobyl disaster. Now Italia is taking another step towards a return to nuclear power.

After the green light from the two Commissions, the next step will be today's vote, while the presentation of the text to the Senate will have to wait until 26 May. Awaiting the outcome of the vote is Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin. For him, this is a parliamentary appointment of great importance in order to build a regulatory framework capable of giving Italia 'a modern, pragmatic energy strategy that is consistent with the objectives of decarbonisation and energy security'.

The spontaneous candidature of municipalities to cede their space to future power plants is the main novelty among the changes made by the commissions. From the logic of imposition, there is thus a shift to voluntary participation. The local consensus route requires municipalities to apply to accommodate both temporary and permanent nuclear waste repositories.

"The additions approved, from the valorisation of the national and European nuclear supply chains to the possibility for municipalities to self-candidate to host plants," the minister emphasises, "confirm the will to develop a transparent, participatory path, oriented towards the country's industrial skills