The Senate approves the nuclear delegation bill: Italy focuses on SMR reactors

THE DELEGATION BILL APPROVED

After almost 40 years after the closure of the nuclear power plants, with the 1987 referendum, Italy has a law to reopen them. The Senate has definitively approved the Pichetto delegation bill on sustainable nuclear power. The objective of the new law is to give the country back atomic legislation, which regulates the construction and management of power plants.

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THE SMRs

The aim is to bring small modular reactors (Smr) to Italy. These are motors enclosed in a steel tube, built in a factory and transported to the power plant, installing them in series of 4 or more. They are economical and safer systems than traditional ones. The most modern versions burn waste from old power plants, and are cooled with liquid lead: in the event of a fault, the reactor shuts down and does not explode. SMRs are in the experimental phase: manufacturers plan to put them on the market in the first half of the next decade.

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THE NUCLEAR ALLIANCE

Italy is not alone in this project. The nuclear alliance was created by France and many countries have joined it, a large portion of Europe is now part of it. The goal is to work together to achieve new generation nuclear power.

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THE NEW REACTORS

One of the biggest innovations is the fact that the focus is no longer on large nuclear power plants, but on smaller plants, which can be built in series. To date, there are only two SMRs in commercial operation in the world: the Russian reactor ship and the Chinese modular reactor of 2023. Numerous small modular reactors are being planned, but we will not see them in operation before the 2030s.

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THE REACTOR IN CANADA

The only G7 country to have a modular reactor under construction is Canada. The works, which began in May 2025, will finish in 2030. The cost is high: 14 billion euros.

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WHO SELLS HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM

Nuclear power plants, large or small, require uranium or plutonium, which Italy does not produce. There is thus a risk of a new dependence on foreign suppliers, perhaps unreliable. At the moment only Russia sells highly enriched uranium.

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HOW WILL EUROPE DO IT?

The West, and in particular Europe, if it wants to focus on this type of nuclear power, must equip itself with the capacity to produce this fuel. At the moment the Old Continent is far behind.

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