(Adnkronos) – Italy’s government has decided to push ahead with plans to end a ban on reactors and reintroduce “non-polluting” nuclear power, foreign minister Antonio Tajani told a pre-election rally in the northest Veneto region.
”Nuclear energy is non-polluting, Tajani said at the rally in Padua support of the ruling rightwing coalition’s candidate for Veneto region governor, Alberto Stefani.
“The government has decided to bet on nuclear power,” Tajani said.
Within the framework of European Union decarbonisation and energy security goals, the cabinet approved a bill last month that would allow the government to regulate the re-introduction of sustainable nuclear power as part of Italy’s energy mix.
Under Italy’s National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan, nuclear power is expected to contribute between 11% and 22% of the country’s electricity supply by 2050.
Italy, a nuclear energy pioneer, shut down the last two of four commercial reactors in 1990 after deciding to phase out nuclear power in a referendum following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
