Italy signals return to nuclear energy amid rising electricity costs

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is seeking to overturn a 40-year ban on nuclear power, arguing that rising electricity costs and concerns over energy security and geopolitical instability make a return to nuclear generation necessary, Politico reports.

The outlet said, however, winning over one of Europe’s most nuclear-sceptical electorates is expected to be a significant challenge, with experts warning that a poorly managed push could backfire on her right-wing coalition.

Last week, the Italian prime minister stated that her government would introduce a legal framework by the summer to enable a return to nuclear energy, including so-called small modular reactors (SMRs), which are compact designs still largely in prototype or early deployment stages globally.

“By the summer, the enabling law will be approved and the implementing decrees adopted to establish the legal framework needed to resume nuclear power production in Italy,” Meloni told the Senate.

While the proposal marks Italy’s clearest pro-nuclear shift since the early 2010s, analysts caution that the country remains years away from any operational reactors, and potentially dependent on multiple future governments to deliver the plan.

“This bill does not reintroduce nuclear power in Italy,” said Luca Romano, a pro-nuclear commentator known online as “The Atomic Advocate”. “It just sets the rules to reintroduce it.”

Italy phased out nuclear power following a 1987 referendum held in the aftermath of Chernobyl.

A later attempt to revive the sector under former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi collapsed after the Fukushima disaster triggered another referendum in 2011.

Experts note that public opposition has historically been driven not only by safety concerns, but also by deeper mistrust of institutions and large state-led infrastructure projects — factors that continue to shape the debate today.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov