Italy clears path for nuclear comeback amid row over costs and timelines

After 40 years and two referendums rejecting nuclear power, in 1987 and 2011, Italy is reopening the door to nuclear-generated electricity after the Senate gave final approval to a government framework law already voted by the Chamber of Deputies. The legislation aims to restore a regulatory framework for nuclear energy in Italy, paving the way for the possible construction of new plants decades after the country’s reactors were shut down following the historic 1987 referendum.

Sponsored by Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, the bill delegates powers to the government to issue legislative decrees regulating the sector. It covers key areas ranging from the construction and operation of nuclear facilities to the production of hydrogen using nuclear energy, as well as spent fuel and radioactive waste management, safety and the establishment of regulatory bodies.

Italy’s return to nuclear power comes against a European backdrop that has changed significantly since the 1987 and 2011 referendums. Nuclear power currently accounts for around 23% of the EU’s electricity generation, while the European Commission has progressively strengthened – amid significant criticism – its support for the contribution nuclear energy could make to decarbonisation, industrial competitiveness and energy security, while leaving decisions over the energy mix to individual member states.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reiterated this position in her State of the Union address on 16 September. “We have invested in our homegrown clean energies – renewables and nuclear,” she said, stressing the need to accelerate the deployment of domestic low-carbon energy sources, “be it renewables and nuclear, or biomethane and others”, under a “technologically neutral” approach. The goal, she stressed, is to increase Europe’s energy independence.

Following the bill’s approval, the government will have 12 months from the law’s entry into force to adopt one or more legislative decrees, creating the legal framework within which Italy’s new nuclear programme could be developed. The legislation therefore does not, in itself, authorise the immediate construction of new nuclear power plants.

“Today Parliament gave final approval to the nuclear law. After almost forty years, Italy once again has a regulatory framework for producing nuclear energy,” Prime Minister and Brothers of Italy (FdI/ECR) leader Giorgia Meloni wrote on X, calling it “a courageous and common-sense choice”.

Meloni linked the return to nuclear power to energy security and growing electricity demand, including that driven by the expansion of data centres and artificial intelligence. According to the prime minister, new nuclear technologies should provide “greater energy security, meaning less dependence on foreign countries and less exposure to international crises”, while complementing renewables with stable, low-emission power generation.

“We are talking about next-generation technologies, not the old nuclear power plants,” Meloni said, noting that the implementing decrees will establish rules on safety, authorisations, waste management and relations with local communities.

Environment and Energy Security Minister Pichetto Fratin saying the approval of the bill meant that “Italy is taking a step towards the future”. He rejected the idea that the legislation represented a simple return to the nuclear model of the past, arguing that new technologies, integrated with renewable energy, could contribute to energy security and the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Pichetto highlighted the work carried out in recent years with technical experts and the expertise retained by Italian companies which, despite Italy’s withdrawal from nuclear power generation, have continued to operate internationally.

“Sustainable nuclear power is a concrete opportunity, not a closed chapter,” the minister said, also stressing the need to provide the public with information about nuclear technologies. The delegation bill, he concluded, represents both “a milestone and a new starting point”.

What the law provides for

At the heart of the legislation is the establishment of a National Programme for the development of sustainable nuclear energy production and use, as well as nuclear fusion. The implementing decrees will regulate every stage in the life cycle of nuclear facilities: experimentation, siting, construction, installation and operation, through to decommissioning and dismantling.

The scope of the delegation also includes nuclear fuel management and reprocessing, the temporary storage and final disposal of radioactive waste and spent fuel, as well as scientific research, skills development and the reorganisation of governance and regulatory oversight.

Particular attention is devoted to next-generation technologies. The decrees will determine which types of reactors may be authorised, in accordance with the principle of technological neutrality and EU legislation, including modular technologies such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and more advanced systems such as Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs).

Nuclear energy is also envisaged for purposes beyond electricity generation. The legislation includes its potential use for hydrogen and heat production and in the naval and maritime sectors, alongside continued research into nuclear fusion.

Financing and the role of private investors

The law does not directly provide funding for the construction of future nuclear plants. Instead, the framework is intended to create the regulatory and financial conditions needed to attract private capital, including through public-private partnerships.

Possible instruments include Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), long-term electricity supply contracts, and two-way Contracts for Difference (CfDs), under which a reference price is guaranteed: if the market price falls below a predetermined level, the support mechanism covers the difference, while if it rises above that level the producer pays back the surplus.

The system is also expected to provide for ring-fenced resources, financed through revenues from electricity sales, to cover future decommissioning and waste-management costs. Any public support mechanisms will have to comply with EU rules and, where required, receive approval from the European Commission.

Safety, local communities and radioactive waste

Another key and closely scrutinised issue concerns nuclear safety governance. The delegation provides for a reorganisation of existing bodies and allows for the possible establishment of an independent administrative authority for nuclear safety. Many of the relevant responsibilities are currently exercised by Italy’s National Inspectorate for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ISIN).

The politically sensitive question of where new plants could be located also remains. The legislation provides for the involvement of affected communities and measures intended to benefit host territories, while also allowing areas to put themselves forward voluntarily, alongside the relevant environmental assessment procedures.

In the background is the still unresolved issue of Italy’s National Repository for radioactive waste. The country’s former nuclear power plants are still being decommissioned, while a site for the permanent disposal of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste – and temporary storage of high-level waste – has yet to be built.

Industry welcomes the move

Parliament’s approval was welcomed by Confindustria, Italy’s main employers’ federation. Aurelio Regina, its vice-president responsible for energy, described the vote as “a historic turning point for the country’s future and for strengthening the national energy mix”.

According to Confindustria, nuclear energy could help strengthen Italy’s energy independence, stabilise costs and support industry’s transition towards climate neutrality. The federation notes that nuclear power accounts for around 10% of global electricity generation and 23% of electricity production in the European Union.

Confindustria also estimates that more than 70 Italian companies already operate in the nuclear supply chain, covering activities ranging from reactor design and component manufacturing to plant maintenance. According to Regina, a national nuclear programme could generate around 117,000 new jobs and have an annual economic impact exceeding €50 billion.

Opposition parties and NGOs challenge the plan

Opposition parties and non-governmental organisations have taken the opposite view, focusing their criticism in particular on the lack of clearly defined costs, timelines and funding.

“What the government presents as the beginning of a new energy era is, in practice, an extremely broad delegation that postpones the essential decisions until tomorrow,” said Democratic Party (PD/S&D) senator and party secretary Nicola Irto. According to Irto, “there are no costs, no timelines, no funding”, meaning Parliament has effectively been asked to cast “a vote in the dark”.

Irto stressed that the law “does not build a single power plant, does not produce even one kilowatt-hour and does not reduce a family’s electricity bill by a single euro”, while also questioning who will ultimately finance the necessary investment. He also pointed to the unfinished decommissioning of Italy’s old nuclear facilities and the failure to build the National Repository.

Similar criticism came from Chamber of Deputies Vice-President and Five Star Movement (M5S/The Left) member Sergio Costa, who argued that the legislation sets out “no plant, no certain cost and no credible date”. Costa particularly challenged the government’s focus on SMRs, noting that they are not yet being produced on a commercial scale, and again raised the unresolved issue of radioactive waste.

“Before thinking about producing new waste, Minister Pichetto Fratin should come to Parliament and explain where he intends to put the waste we already have at home,” Costa said.

Angelo Bonelli, co-spokesperson for Green Europe (AVS/Greens), was even more critical, describing the return to nuclear energy as “economic madness” and calling on the government to disclose the programme’s costs and financing arrangements. According to Bonelli, SMRs cannot provide a short-term answer to high energy prices and investment should instead be directed towards renewables, electricity grids and storage.

Environmental NGOs argue that the delegation law is based on what they regard as an unrealistic promise of “sustainable nuclear power”. According to a joint statement by Greenpeace Italy, Legambiente, WWF Italy and Kyoto Club, the nuclear technology available today is “almost the same as that available 15 years ago”, when Italians rejected nuclear power for the second time in a referendum.

The organisations also criticised the bill’s reference to technological neutrality within the nuclear sector, arguing that it gives the executive excessively broad discretion and that references to modular reactors – which are not yet commercially available on a large scale – amount to a “rhetorical device”. Environmental groups also dispute the argument that smaller reactors are necessarily cleaner, pointing to studies that raise concerns about waste generation, costs and safety.

The political and regulatory battle will now shift to the implementing decrees. These will determine which technologies can actually be authorised, the procedures for selecting sites, the safety and oversight regime, radioactive waste management and, crucially, the economic model through which Italy’s potential return to nuclear power will be financed.

The article in Italian by EUalive’s partner FocusEurope.it can be found here.

Caption: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni addresses a political gathering in Bari, southern Italy, 4 September 2026. Meloni visited the Apulian capital to celebrate her administration’s record longevity as the longest-serving right-wing government in modern Italian history. EPA/DONATO FASANO