Nuclear, Pichetto: 'Important step for the country's energy future'

He considers it 'a strategic challenge' for the country's future. A concept that he has often repeated in recent months, emphasising how essential it is to speed up on this front in order to provide Italia with a regulatory framework capable of ensuring the development of sustainable nuclear power. This is why the Chamber of Deputies' 'yes' at first reading to the proxy bill on nuclear power, which he promoted and on which he has put his face from the outset, is viewed with great favour by the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin.

Thus, during a press conference called in Parliament following the vote, the Forza Italia exponent spoke of 'an important step for Italia's energy future' with the approval of the proxy bill in the Chamber of Deputies. 'Today we have begun to set the conditions for the country to be ready to adopt sustainable nuclear power when the new technologies, to which we are aiming, are mature and available, at the beginning of the next decade,' the minister explained.

Sustainable nuclear power, reiterates Pichetto Fratin, who has been at the forefront in pushing for the approval of the enabling act, 'means more energy security, more decarbonisation, more independence. In a world where the demand for energy is set to grow rapidly, not least because of artificial intelligence, data centres, and industrial and civil electrification, those who are able to produce energy will be freer, stronger, and safer'. 'We want an Italia that is less dependent on foreign countries, with energy that is more accessible to families and businesses,' the minister goes on to say. 'The bill arrives indiscriminately in the homes and businesses of all Italians'.

Pichetto Fratin is keen to emphasise that 'nuclear power is not a political or ecological flag: it is a tool to be evaluated with seriousness, trust in research and responsibility towards future generations'. 'This is a choice of concreteness, not ideology,' the Mase owner concludes, 'a choice of Freedom. More energy security, more independence, more Italia'.

The minister's timetable has not changed, as he has explained in recent weeks: the goal is to complete the regulatory framework and the implementing decrees necessary 'to allow a concrete and informed assessment of the opportunities offered by the new nuclear power' by the end of the year, is the message he reiterated again this morning in an interview with the editor of Il Tempo, Daniele Capezzone. "If the path proceeds according to schedule, the first authorisations could arrive by the end of the decade, with the first production starting up in the first half of the 1930s. We are talking about smaller, innovative and safe plants, which will be able to help ensure continuity in the production of electricity and accompany the growth of renewables. It is a strategic challenge for the future of the country, which aims to combine competitiveness, environmental sustainability and protection of the production system, offering families and businesses more stable energy at more sustainable costs'.