Italy is aiming to finalize by the end of 2027 a plan to allow the country to once again use nuclear power, which was banned nearly 40 years ago, Energy Minister Gilberto Piketo Frattin said in an interview published today by Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

The right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors could help decarbonise Italy’s most polluting industries, including steel, glass and ceramics.

Nuclear power plants have been banned in Italy following referendums in 1987 and 2011, but the government is now planning regulations to lift the ban through the use of new nuclear power technologies.

“Italy is ready to return to nuclear power, a crucial option that will not replace renewable energy sources but will complement them, ensuring a balanced and sustainable energy mix,” Piketo Frattin said, adding that a first draft bill will be submitted to the cabinet for approval in the next two weeks.

Last September, Piketo Frattin said last year that Italy wanted to draw up regulations to allow new nuclear technologies by early 2025 at the latest and that he hoped parliament would be able to approve the bill this year.

Italy estimates that it will save €17 billion by 2050 from the cost of decarbonising its economy if nuclear power makes up at least 11% of its energy mix.

Piketo Frattin said the Italian Plan for Energy and Climate (PNIEC) estimates that this share could reach up to 22%.