Italy repeats: no to nuclear
MILAN (Reuters) - Oct 10, 2007
Italy will not reverse its Chernobyl-era ban on nuclear power,
its government said on Wednesday.
Instead it urged power companies to focus on renewable energy as part of an
effort to combat global climate change.
Calls for a Italian nuclear renaissance have intensified as, with scant
domestic energy sources, it seeks to diversify its supplies and trim
dependence on fuel imports
"Given that the results of a popular referendum of 1987 cannot be
cancelled with a stroke of pen, a nuclear choice is neither safe nor
convenient in the short-term," said Alfonso Gianni, undersecretary
at the Economic Development Ministry.
Gianni was delivering a statement to the lower chamber of parliament,
and cited concerns about high costs of constructing nuclear plants and
their decommissioning as well as waste management.
The only exception should be made for a scientific research in a new
generation of nuclear reactors -- in which Italian energy groups
participate by joining projects abroad, he said.
Gianni said he was surprised by the head of Milan's utility AEM,
Giuliano Zuccoli, who earlier on Wednesday called for an immediate
restart of one nuclear power station, in northern Italy, and the
construction of three new plants.
Supporters of nuclear say it would help to reduce emissions of
heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) and dependence on costly
fossil fuel imports, thus trimming Italian electricity prices, among
the highest in Europe.
Italy imports about 80-90 percent of fossil fuels it needs.
"We need to dismantle a legend that nuclear energy is expensive
and we should let everyone know that plants are safe," Zuccoli
told an energy conference.
But Gianni said nuclear energy raises a complex of environmental
problems as well as risks of non-peaceful use.
"The main road is the development of renewable energy, in
particular, photovoltaic," he said
Italy has approved changes to a law aimed to boost photovoltaic
energy which transforms sunlight into power, prompting analysts
to forecast that sunny Italy may become Europe's new frontier for solar energy.