Italy's Senate approves nuclear power return after 40-year hiatus
Parliament clears path for small modular reactors, marking Meloni government's shift on energy security and climate goals.
What to know
- Italy's Senate voted 81–51 to approve legislation enabling nuclear power's return nearly 40 years after Chernobyl prompted its abandonment, establishing a regulatory framework for next-generation small modular reactors.
- The government has 12 months to draft implementing decrees on licensing, safety, waste management, and site selection; actual reactor construction remains years away and requires further approvals.
- Public support has shifted, with about 55% of Italians backing next-generation nuclear plants (strongest among younger voters), though majorities oppose plants near their homes and local communities are expected to resist future sites.
- Meloni's government frames nuclear as essential for energy independence amid climate pressures and post-Ukraine security concerns, while opposition parties argue safety risks and high construction costs outweigh benefits.
“Sustainable nuclear power, together with renewable energy sources, will make Italy a safe, independent and competitive country.”
Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Environment and Energy Security Minister · Straits Times ↗
Giorgia Meloni Prime Minister of ItalyGilberto Pichetto Fratin Environment and Energy Security MinisterElena Sironi Five Star Movement senator
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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Italy's Senate approves nuclear energy legislation
The upper house voted 81–51 with seven abstentions to give final approval to legislation establishing a legal framework for nuclear power's return. The bill earlier passed the lower Chamber of Deputies and authorizes the government to draft implementing decrees over the next 12 months covering reactor licensing, safety standards, waste management, and site criteria.
“Nuclear isn't a return to the past. When integrated with renewables, it's a winning technology, which can give extraordinary results for our energy security.”
— Gilberto Pichetto Fratin -
first by Philadelphia Inquirer, 17h ago · also Bloomberg Politics, Breitbart, HN Best, HN Frontpage, Courthouse News, Japan Today +1
6 more headlines
- Italy Approves Return of Nuclear Power After Four-Decade Ban Bloomberg Politics · 17h ago
- Italy Overturns Post-Chernobyl Ban on Nuclear Energy, Clears Way to Build New Plants Breitbart · 16h ago
- Italian parliament votes for return to nuclear energy HN Best · 15h ago
- 40 years after Chernobyl, Italy greenlights a return to nuclear energy Philadelphia Inquirer · 14h ago
- Italy greenlights return to nuclear energy Japan Today · 11h ago
- Italy greenlights return of nuclear power after decades-long ban SCMP · 4h ago
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first by FT, 17h ago
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Are large hydro dams insured for the total costs of catastrophic flood event?A typical third-party liability insurance cap for large hydroelectric dams ranges from $50 million to $100 million per occurrence, with major facilities stacking excess liability layers well beyond that.Dam failures can cause very large costs. The 2015 Fundão tailings dam…
2 more of the top 3 · 43 posts in this stretch
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My profile picture has a U.S. flag, Reagan and a Lesbian Pride flag in it. I can assure you I'm neither American, Ronald Reagan, nor a lesbian.
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China is building nuclear reactors faster than any other country: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38485137Belgium stops decommissioning nuclear power plants: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47961319Canada plans 'nuclear renaissance' with up to 10 reactors built by 2040: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48634585Its important to…
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background
Opposition parties urge siting restrictions and land preservation — Centre-left opposition, including the Five Star Movement, largely opposed the measure and called for new plants to be located only in already-developed, degraded, or previously industrialized areas without consuming additional land.
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background
Public support for nuclear rising, strongest among younger Italians — A June 2026 survey by research firm Only Numbers found approximately 55% of Italians support next-generation nuclear plants, with backing strongest among younger generations who lack direct memory of Chernobyl. A separate Demopolis poll found 51% support, though a majority opposed construction of plants near their homes.
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background
Government framework targets small modular reactors over traditional plants — Rather than reviving large reactors like those decommissioned after a 1987 referendum, Meloni's government is focusing on small modular reactors (SMRs) and other advanced technologies framed as safer, more flexible, and quicker to build. The legislation does not authorize construction of any reactors but creates the regulatory foundation needed before future projects can be proposed.
What people are saying 21 voices from 1 site · best of 43 · verbatim
- Today
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oh the irony...In France, which has the most nuclearized electricity, 13% of the electricity bill is actually a tax to finance the subsidies to solar and wind power plants.Nuclear is highly profitable, if you compare prices for 24x7 electricity (i.e., if comparing with solar, factor in the cost of energy storage at grid scale, or separate power…
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Looking at the top comments in this thread claiming a bunch of false things I see HN is essentially fully captured by anti-progress populism at this point.It’s sad to see, for a former community of “hackers.”
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We are currently running nuclear at a capacity factor of around 91% in the US. Solar is somewhere around 24%.1GW at noon vs 1GW forever. The area under the curve is what matters. Not the peak of the curve.How much more would you be willing to spend to get 4x the nameplate capacity and to also get it whenever you need it?The economics of a single…
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Italian here. I seriously doubt this thing will lead anywhere. If something slightly more concrete than this will appear, there will be an insurrection. NIMBY is very strong in Italy (after decades of attempts, we are still without a spent fuel depot for this reason).Also, in the past Italy already voted twice against nuclear. I doubt the popular…
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In my opinion the best argument for nuclear power is not money, but environmental.The radiation from coal power alone (excluding accidents) kills more people every single year than nuclear power has killed in its entire existence (even including accidents).But also: What is the cost of non-nuclear's raising of co2 levels and climate change?
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> https://www.versicherungsforen.net/schaden-leistung/berechnu...From google translate """ Depending on the probability of such an event occurring, the annual premium varies between €0.01 and €305.83, based on a mean total insured sum of approximately €6,090 billion. If the entire insured sum were to be provided over a period of 100 years, the…
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No, it's included and is dirt cheap. German nuclear provided for about 5ct/kwh, similar to Switzerland https://www.kkg.ch/de/uns/geschaefts-nachhaltigkeitsberichte... or other countries.In Germany liability was covering 2.5bn+ full assets of owners. I still find it funny how germans are concerned about nuclear when each 2y the same nr of ppl die…
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I agree with everything you said but want to add some more about the Price-Anderson Act. It does a few things:1. It caps the liability for an incident at a single reactor. It goes up with inflation and I believe it's currently $500 million;2. It establishes an industry-wide secondary self-insurance fund for broader incidents and caps liability. I…
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People usually do not include the costs of actual insurance into those calculations. If you do you end up with much higher prices per kWh for nuclear.Additional cost estimate in numbers per kWhNumbers:Germany: + 0.139€-2.36 €/kWhJapan: + $0.22–5.78/kWhI could not find numbers for the US, but you guys have the Price-Anderson Act that limits the…
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Countries can also buy Uranium from their favorite fossil fuel country.Saudi Arabia discovers 110 million tonnes of uranium-bearing ore in Medina:
- Yesterday
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That's why I think lifters are really the only true path to cost reasonable nuclear power... They "burn" almost all fuel and have separation procedures for the other fission products, and I believe they can consume nuclear waste since it's a breeder reactor.
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The enduring fascination of isotopes and neutrons zipping in and out...Taking a look at the costs (not to mention genuine safety and sustainability in the long run): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_sourceIn the current landscape—with the costs of solar and wind power steadily falling and storage technologies emerging, driven…
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Brace yourself, every large nuclear accident has been preceded by the Italian considering nuclear again. (Well at least Tchornobyl and Fukushima, ”which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice”)
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I don’t know why commenters here are treating energy technologies as winner-takes-all. Solar is cheap and getting cheaper, and that’s fantastic news for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it suits every country, every niche, and every application. There are plenty of places that don’t have massive tracts of spare flat land, or the right latitude, or…
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115 $/MWh.Thats what EDF's stating their NUWARD SMR (up to 400MW) will cost in France, just as comparison. Not cheap for the taxpayers in Italy.
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Hopefully Germany will follow next. It’s absurd that they rely on fossil fuel and coal when they can build modern nuclear plants that can provide stable energy for the energy heavy industries.It would take 5-10 years to build the power plants and maybe with Chinese aid even faster
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I agree, I tell everyone who will listen that no country, not Russia, China, Japan, France, USA etc has ever made nuclear power profitable. And you can't blame it on the environmentalists in China and Russia.That being said, many countries consider it a national security issue not to be held hostage to foreign oil.
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I've seen quite a few SMR proposals over the last couple of years and not a single one that dared to address the whole cycle from deployment to eventual decommission as a function of the total revenues - costs to operate. Most of these projects seem to be made to bilk investors or governments rather than to actually produce power. The day Italy…
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I'm Italian and I'm super happy with this.The referendum that made nuclear energy illegal in Italy was held right after the accident of Chernobyl; people voted with their gut, not with their mind.Curiously enough, some Italian town signs still have a small sub-sign reading "denuclearized municipality" (example…
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>Rather than reviving the large reactors of the past, the government is focusing on small modular reactors, or SMRs, and other advanced technologies that supporters say could be safer, more flexible and quicker to build.>The legislation does not authorize the construction of any reactors. Instead, it creates the regulatory foundation needed before…
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It is sad that this has become a topic of the culture wars. Nothing good comes out of this, certainly not a rational weighing of the pros and cons of nuclear power.I’m particularly interested in how they plan to finance reactors in a grid dominated by solar. I wouldn’t be surprised if they legally allow the building of new reactors but then fail…