Italy and USA sign nuclear agreement

Wednesday, 30 September 2009

The USA and Italy have signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement, opening the door of the Italian market to US suppliers of nuclear technology and services.

 

The five-year agreement was signed in Washington yesterday by Italy's minister of economic development, Claudio Scajola, US energy secretary Steven Chu and deputy secretary of commerce Dennis Hightower.

 

The Joint Declaration on Nuclear Cooperation will allow American companies to bid to supply goods and services for nuclear energy-related projects in Italy. There is an option to renew the agreement for a further five years. General Electric and Westinghouse both welcomed the signing of the agreement.

 

The agreement calls for cooperation between the two countries to construct up to a dozen new nuclear power reactors in Italy. It also creates a framework for the exchange of skilled nuclear workers, as well as information and materials. It also covers the treatment and storage of radioactive waste. The agreement establishes a bilateral surveillance panel comprising of two representatives from each country which will meet to discuss the programs once per year.

  

Aris Candris, president and CEO of Westinghouse, commented: "Italy clearly wants and deserves access to the world's best technology as it works to make clean, safe and reliable nuclear energy a larger part of its energy mix."

 

Scajola was today due to tour FirstEnergy's Beaver Valley nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, which is based on Westinghouse technology.

 

Following a referendum in November 1987, provoked by the Chernobyl accident 18 months earlier, work on Italy's nuclear program was largely stopped. In 1988, the government resolved to halt all nuclear construction, shut the remaining reactors and decommission them from 1990. As well as the operating plants, two new boiling water reactors were almost complete and six locally-designed pressurized water reactor units were planned. Various fuel cycle facilities were also shut down. The country now relies on imported energy to meet its needs - notably from France, where 78% of electricity comes from nuclear.

 

In 2004, a new energy law opened up the possibility of joint venture with foreign companies in relation to nuclear power plants and importing electricity from them. This resulted from a clear change in public opinion, especially among younger people favouring nuclear power for Italy.

 

This situation was reversed by the general election of May 2008, when Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party put a return to nuclear energy in its manifesto.

 

Italy has since signed nuclear cooperation agreements with Russia, France and Japan.