The Minister of Business and Made in Italy (Mimit) has announced the birth of a company for the relaunch of nuclear energy in Italy.
Adolfo Urso, Mimit minister, who spoke during the Assembly of the Italian Nuclear Association, revealed the establishment of a company by the end of the year
which will produce advanced third generation and then advanced fourth generation nuclear plants, also betting – Italy more than others – on the nuclear power of the future, that is, on fusion.
According to rumors it would be called “newco” this new company and should have as its protagonists Enel (with a share of around 51%), Ansaldo Nucleare (39%) and Leonardo (10%).
But let’s try to clarify the words of the Minister, even for non-experts.
For third generation nuclear power we are referring to a technology developed commercially around the 2000s, but dating back in design to the 80s/90s of the last century, which guarantees greater safety and longer production times. The fourth generation of nuclear power raises the standards by reducing the need for water, but is however still in the experimental phase and currently only prototypes exist. Nuclear fusion, on the other hand, is “the promising technology” (despite numerous announcements) still under study, which according to most experts will not be able to produce a single MWh of energy before 2050 (or perhaps 2060).
Having said this, let’s return to the Minister’s words. Urso recalls that certainly in the Government’s vision nuclear power will be placed alongside renewable energy but that
Our country has already moved with a far-sighted strategic vision to make up for delays and return to being a major player also in the production of obviously new generation nuclear energy.
Yet, in PNIECNational Integrated Energy and Climate Plan, of June 2024 we read that “by 2050, in the “With nuclear” scenario, nuclear production covers approximately 11% of electricity demand“: a limited strategic scope, in line with the IAEA’s international forecasts.
But Urso continues
The strategic role can be played through new technologies, such as advanced third generation nuclear power, SMRs and fourth generation nuclear power, which open up promising scenarios and thanks to which Italian companies can be at the forefront on a global level.
SMRs, Small Modular Reactors, are reactors of a maximum of 300 MWe, therefore not very small, but numerous of them would be needed to support Italian companies. Furthermore, the creation of safe but smaller technologies necessarily increases costs.
The only continuous source of energy on an industrial level that can be created on the European continent is nuclear power and this also for the purposes of guaranteeing strategic autonomy and reducing dependence on other nations and continents.
In truth, biomethane and hydroelectric could be used as non-intermittent sources to optimize other renewables, but above all, speaking of dependence on other nations, Italy could soon find itself in the position of having to purchase fossil fuel from other nations.
And concludes Urso
It is not enough to reduce the cost of production, it is necessary to guarantee that this occurs in safety and to guarantee security we must guarantee strategic and European autonomy in energy production, so as to safeguard the continent in the event that it were to reduce energy supplies from other continents.
Energy independence certainly represents a guarantee for safety, so why not focus on ready-made technologies instead of waiting for the construction of nuclear plants whose construction would take – in the rosiest prospects of nuclear enthusiasts – at least 6 years? The construction times of the most recent French, Finnish and English nuclear reactors say other construction times. Over 15 years.
