Italy joins France's nuclear alliance

Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin announced that Italy will join the Nuclear Alliance starting from June 16, during the European Energy Council. The Government's decision is moving towards a more active role for Italy in the development and installation of nuclear technologies.

The government has taken some steps to try to reintroduce energy production from uranium fission in Italy. Despite the laws passed, however, the government seems to be focusing exclusively on technologies that have not yet been used on a commercial scale in any other country.

Italy to join the nuclear alliance

The announcement of Italy's adhesion to the Nuclear Alliance was made on the occasion of Pianeta 2030, the Corriere della Sera festival on the theme of the environment and energy, underway in Milan. The Minister of the Environment underlined the importance of the gesture:

At the next Energy Council, scheduled for June 16 in Luxembourg, Italy will join the Nuclear Alliance. I will formulate the declaration of membership to the Nuclear Alliance. So we are moving from observers to real actors, because the government has chosen this direction. Today we consume 310 billion kilowatt hours and the forecast is that by 2040 we will be at 600 billion. So we have to produce energy somewhere.

Civil nuclear power in Italy was shelved after the 1987 referendum . All power plants were shut down, projects under construction stopped, and all public investment was banned. The Berlusconi government tried to restart energy production from uranium fission in Italy in 2011, but a new referendum blocked the project.

What is the Nuclear Alliance?

The Nuclear Alliance is a group of European countries founded in 2023 at the initiative of France . It was created with the aim of "bringing together all the countries of Europe that want to rely on nuclear energy, alongside renewables, to achieve their energy transition". At the moment, the following are members:

• Bulgaria;
• Croatia;
• Finland;
• France;
• Netherlands;
• Poland;
• Czech Republic;
• Romania;
• Slovakia;
• Slovenia;
• Hungary.

Italy joined immediately, but only as an observer member, but from June 16 it will become an active member. This is above all a political move, which brings our country closer to the vision of a sustainable energy mix of France, where more than 40% of the total energy produced comes from the numerous nuclear power plants located in the country.

At what point is Italy's return to nuclear power?

In 2025, Giorgia Meloni 's government launched the first concrete actions for the return of civil nuclear power in Italy. In February, the delegation law on nuclear power was approved by Parliament, which gives the government freedom to legislate on the matter within 24 months and allocates the first 20 million euros.

Nuclitalia was then founded, a company controlled by Enel , Ansaldo Energia and Leonardo that will study the most advanced nuclear technologies and analyse the market opportunities present in Italy for the development of nuclear reactor projects.

The Government has often stressed that Nuclitalia must focus on SMR, the small modular reactor . These are small-sized nuclear reactors (transportable by road) that can be installed in a modular manner, therefore adding or removing them as needed.

This is the most advanced technology ever in nuclear fission, but no company currently sells SMRs . The only working models are from experiments to verify the feasibility of similar reactors. All other projects are in the development phase.