Nuclear, Pichetto opens up on possible incentives: here are the timescales and costs

For nuclear power 'it will be possible to provide incentives in the same way as for wind, solar, gas and all other energy sources'. Small modular reactors (Smr)? The commissioning of the first modules could take place 'from 2035'. The Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, speaking before the Environment and Productive Activities Committees of the Chamber of Deputies following the hearing as part of the enquiry into nuclear power, dictated the timing and possible support.

"Our decision to focus on Smr was based on certain parameters, on the basis of which they were included in the Pniec's nuclear scenario hypothesis, foreseeing the entry into operation of the first modules starting in 2035," said Environment and Energy Security Minister Pichetto Fratin. The Smr, explained the Mase holder, "are not yet commercialised en masse and will come onto the market starting in the early 2030s, "it is a fact," he pointed out. He then went on to point out, based on the 'conservative' scenario included in the Pniec (the national integrated energy and climate plan), that' enabling nuclear power with a share of between 11% and 22% of the total (therefore not dominant) would make it possible to support the base load without the need for huge investments in grid infrastructure and oversizing of wind and photovoltaic power, due to their non-programmability and the related system costs'.

As for costs, he clarified, 'technicians tell me that they do not exceed EUR 2.5 billion, but that is still the cost of the first reactor. Mass commercialisation will lead to a decrease,' Pichetto Fratin added, recalling the process that had also characterised photovoltaic panels, whose costs then fell with mass production 'also favoured by government incentives'. Incentives that, as he said, will also be possible for this source. "On the other hand, as the planned market will also include large energy-intensive plants and energy management companies, the public-private partnership will also see a large share of investment by the latter," the minister continued.

Dwelling then on the forecasts contained in Pniec, Pichetto Fratin recalled that "the inclusion of the nuclear quota 'leads to a minimum saving for the system of €17bn. Savings calculated with respect to a reference scenario in which the base load is borne mainly by gas and plants with CCS (carbon capture and storage). In the hypothesis, however, of installing the entire potential calculated by the Platform, 'the savings,' he pointed out, 'for the energy system could be greater'. All these aspects, the minister then explained, will be detailed 'in the update of the long-term strategy to be finalised by next year for submission to Brussels'.

Turning to the subject of waste, Pichetto reiterated what he had already said in Parliament in recent days (the government's idea of modernising existing repositories in parallel with the work to identify the site for the national repository) and then clarified that 'there is no connection between the procedure for locating' the latter and that for identifying 'future modular production plants, Smr, Arm or micro-reactors'. He then highlighted the intention to 'define a clear legislative and regulatory framework, containing the requirements for the location, construction and operation of small modular plants, according to the highest international standards of safety and radiation protection, and to leave it up to the interested parties - which could be large production centres, energy service companies, local authorities or the state itself - to make proposals for their location, to be submitted to the competent administrations for assessment'.