Nuclear power, Pichetto: ‘An important step for the country’s energy future’

He regards it as ‘a strategic challenge’ for the country’s future. This is a point he has often reiterated in recent months, emphasising how essential it is to press ahead on this front in order to provide Italia with a regulatory framework capable of ensuring the development of sustainable nuclear energy. This is why the Chamber of Deputies’ approval at first reading of the enabling bill on nuclear energy – which he championed and stood by from the outset – is viewed very favourably by the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin.

Thus, during a press conference held in Parliament following the vote, the Forza Italia representative spoke of “an important step for Italia’s energy future” with the approval of the enabling bill in the Chamber of Deputies. “Today we have begun to lay the groundwork so that the country is ready to adopt sustainable nuclear power when the new technologies we are aiming for are mature and available, at the start of the next decade,” the minister explained.

“Sustainable nuclear power,” reiterates Pichetto Fratin, who has been at the forefront of efforts to secure the passage of the enabling act, “means greater energy security, greater decarbonisation and greater independence. In a world where energy demand is set to grow rapidly, partly due to artificial intelligence, data centres, and industrial and domestic electrification, those who are able to produce energy will be freer, stronger and safer.” “We want an Italia that is less dependent on foreign sources, with more affordable energy for households and businesses,” the minister adds. “The energy 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 environmental cause: it is a tool to be assessed seriously, with confidence in research and a sense of responsibility towards future generations”. “This is a choice based on practicality, not ideology,” concludes the head of Mase. “A choice of freedom. Greater energy security, greater independence, a stronger Italia.”

The minister’s timetable has not changed, as he has explained over the past few weeks: the aim is to finalise the regulatory framework and the necessary implementing decrees by the end of the year ‘to allow for a concrete and informed assessment of the opportunities offered by new nuclear power’; this message was reiterated again this morning in an interview with the editor of Il Tempo, Daniele Capezzone. ‘If the process proceeds according to schedule, the first authorisations could be granted by the end of the decade, with the first plants coming online in the first half of the 2030s. We are talking about smaller, innovative and safer plants, which will help ensure continuity in electricity production and support the growth of renewables. This is a strategic challenge for the country’s future, aiming to combine competitiveness, environmental sustainability and the protection of the production system, whilst offering households and businesses more stable energy at more affordable costs.”