Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, is to place nuclear power at the heart of a new energy plan this week as his country faces soaring fuel costs. Italy, the only G8 country with no nuclear power stations, decommissioned its four plants after a public referendum in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster. Yet with fuel prices at record highs, Italy is spending twice as much as France on generating electricity each year, and has had to shut several power stations to save money. It is also the world’s biggest importer of electricity, buying 10 per cent of its power from nuclear plants in neighbouring countries. The grim reality of paying the highest electricity bills in Europe has changed the public’s attitudes towards nuclear power. The latest poll shows a 60 per cent support among Italians – a dramatic change from the 70 per cent opposition recorded in 1991. “Our priority will be nuclear,” said Claudio Scajola, the minister for economic development. “It is a direction in which the whole world is being forced to go and we Italians must absolutely follow.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/2135432/Italy-switches-back-to-nuclear-as-soaring-fuel-bills-bite.html