09.06.2026, Rome.
The ambitious plans of the Italian authorities to launch nuclear power plants in just nine years face harsh reality, Rossa Primavera News Agency‘s Europe Desk wrote on June 7.
On June 4, the Italian parliament made an unprecedented decision, effectively overturning an almost forty-year moratorium on the non-military use of nuclear energy. After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Italians voted in a referendum to abandon nuclear energy, but now the country intends to build modern small modular reactors and launch them by 2034–2035.
The reasons for this turnaround are obvious: Rome seeks to protect the economy from price spikes on imported gas, provide industry with stable electricity, and meet strict European climate protection requirements.
Historically, Italy pays significantly more for electricity due to a lack of its own capacity, being forced to buy electricity — including from nuclear power plants — from neighboring France. Relying solely on solar panels and wind turbines is too risky, as they depend on weather and do not guarantee uninterrupted operation of power grids. Its own nuclear power plants will help stabilize tariffs and should help Italian enterprises be more competitive in the global market.
However, the promise to launch the first reactors in just nine years looks extremely optimistic. Serious barriers stand in the way of this goal, and first and foremost, the immaturity of the technologies themselves. The small modular reactors that the government is betting on are not yet being produced on a mass scale in Europe.
The second problem is the lack of personnel and infrastructure. Over forty years, Italy has completely lost its nuclear industry. The state will have to form specialized supervisory agencies from find, retrain engineers, and find equipment suppliers, which means that at first it will have to rely entirely on foreign companies.
In addition, citizen protests will become a serious obstacle. When it comes to choosing specific sites for the reactors, the authorities will certainly face discontent from residents in the spirit of “build anywhere, just not near my home.” This will be followed by lawsuits and, very likely, attempts to collect signatures for a new prohibitive referendum.
Given the technological difficulties outlined above and the inevitable public resistance, the 2040s seem a more realistic timeframe for the emergence of new Italian nuclear power.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
